Shmoggleberry

Shmoggleberry doesn't sleep on the bed, and has to be locked of the sleeping area of the house (the house can be divided into "sleeping and ablutions" and "living and cooking" areas) because of his 5am wake-up-and-feed-me-NOW! howlings.

He has never shown any interest in sleeping on he bed, except once.

About 3 months after my sweetie and I decided to take the plunge and co-habitate, I got a really bad 'flu and felt miserable. My eyes were watering, I was sneezing, coughing and generally feeling like death warmed up. Because of all the coughing, wheezing etc, I was having a hard time sleeping, and I was also keeping my fiancee awake with all my various symptoms. So with much reluctance, I decided to take myself into the spare bedroom so at least one of us could get some quality sleeping time in.

There I was, in the spare bed, feeling decidedly miserable, and horribly lonely, as this was the first night since we'd moved into together that we were sleeping apart. I was also having the problem of sleeping in an unfamiliar bed. It was dark, and cold, and I could hear my fiancee's relieved snorings from the bedroom. I wasn't very happy.

Then Shmoggleberry managed to break into Fort Knox (may as well call him Houdini sometimes), jumped up onto the spare bed, and got under the covers with me. He put his head onto my shoulder, licked my face a few times, and purred me to sleep. He was still there when I woke up at 9am (no 5am wake-up calls), and even let me go to the bathroom before letting me know it was breakfast time.

He's never done it again, and still has no interest in sleeping on the bed. And people wonder why we love cats!

Copyright © Vicky Chapman
November 29, 1997