Catching the Uncatchable

Puffy had a funny reaction to the laser pointer toy we got to amuse the kitten. After observing it for a time, he now ignores it. He's decided it doesn't really exist. On some level, he is right.

We are used to Puffy's idiosyncratic reactions to things. It's rarely what we would expect, yet it often has a purpose.

In times past Mr. Bond observed that Puffy, when emerging from the bathroom where we had the litter box at the time, made a lovely ambush target. He always announced his presence therein with his fussy, protracted, covering ritual.

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Pause. Scratch, scratch. Pause. Scratch, scratch. Pause. Pause. Scratch.

This gave Mr. Bond plenty of time to evaluate the cover afforded by the hallway. In winter, tall boots were a good screen. In summer, he could buttonhook in from the kitchen doorway. Puffy never seemed to catch on. The perennial fall guy, he would trot happily out into the hall and get bowled over. He didn’t seem to mind; he would participate in the wrestling match for a while. Then he would go away.

He wouldn’t run away. He would mentally go away. Mr. Bond would be underneath, ready for another roll, when Puffy, paw uplifted, would freeze. His eyes would unfocus and gaze unseeingly into the distance. He would become so immobile that Mr. Bond would have to squirm out from under him, baffled, and walk off.

A clever ploy? A Ghandi-like maneuver to end the wrestling match? Because when Puffy finally got tired of the ambushing, he decided to ambush Mr. Bond. His method was to sit in the hallway, and when Mr. Bond came out, raise his paw over his head.

There! You are so ambushed!

Mr. Bond was disgusted by such a pathetic ambush attempt. He stopped.

Puffy; mentally challenged or misunderstood genius?

We're still trying to figure that out.


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