Baby Martha

Adult Martha

We've heard about " Tootie the Fax Cat". Now let me introduce another workplace feline who hangs out in my home office. Martha's our adorable little tortoiseshell who sleeps on my Xerox machine when I'm working -- my copycat. She's always there because she's a workaholic, although even workaholics need their rest.

Two afternoons ago I got something from the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet I keep in the closet of my home office, a converted bedroom. A few minutes later I returned it to the files and closed the drawer.

Next morning it occurred to me that Martha wasn't waiting outside my bedroom as usual, nor had she appeared in the hall for her nocturnal ear scratch when I got up in the middle of the night. So before I went off to work I searched the entire house.

A good thing. For some reason I checked the office closet, and heard a faint, plaintive meow (Martha has a tiny voice). I opened the bottom drawer and out struggled Martha. She shot down the stairs to the basement to ease the urgent calls of nature and hunger in that order. I felt terrible about trapping her in that stuffy, cramped space and apologized to her. Eventually she forgave me. Or she forgot about my misdeed. Cats usually do, bless 'em.

Copyright © Bobcat
June 2, 2000