Athena and her sister, Dawn, may share the same genes, but they are as different as hiss and purr. While Dawn is a scaredy cat who will hide under the bed when we have visitors, Athena will greet them at the door. Dawn is relatively quiet, offering a few subdued “meps” and “mews,” while Athena can be bigmouthed and bossy, ordering the nearest human to pick her up now. A dilute tortoiseshell — meaning her fur is more greys than blacks — Athena’s tortitude is most definitely not dilute.
For example, most of the other kitties in our household will move out of the way if you’re walking toward them. Not Athena. She has chosen to occupy this spot at this time for a very particular and completely unfathomable yet very significant reason — and she is not budging.
Witness:
If she has chosen a chair, a couch or a dog bed, it belongs to Athena. She owns it completely. The concept of “share” does not exist in her vocabulary. I’ve seen our 70-pound dog Jasper avoid an entire sofa because 10-pound Athena has settled herself right smack in the middle of it. The humans of the house will sometimes shoo her off a prime TV-watching location; the resulting death-stare of utter disgust from Athena is amusing only because looks don’t kill.
Even with her ‘tude, Athena is a loving cat, who enjoys the company of humans (though she’d prefer that the rude and boorish dogs as well as the other felines of the house did not exist.) She is affectionate and warm, and very generous, offering us gifts such as cat barf (usually the result of finding something that cats shouldn’t eat and eating it anyway).
Read more Haiku by Cat:
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About the author: Susan C. Willett is a writer, photographer, and blogger whose award-winning original stories, photography, poetry, and humor can be found at Life With Dogs and Cats. She lives in New Jersey with three dogs and four cats (all rescues) and at least a couple of humans — all of whom provide inspiration for her work. Refusing to take sides in the interweb’s dogs vs. cats debate, Susan enjoys observing the interspecies interaction among the varied inhabitants of her home — like living in a reality TV show, only furrier. In addition to Life With Dogs and Cats, you can find more Lilah, Jasper, and Tucker (and the rest of the gang) on Haiku by DogÔäó, Haiku by CatÔäó, and Dogs and Cats Texting.
