Padishah

We always had a cat in the house when I was growing up.  Sometimes, more than one.  It’s a nice thing for me to have one in the house.  So, I adopted a cat while I was finishing college.  When he died, all three of the children were young and I had quite a lot on my plate.  After a year and a half, we did a trial run to see if we were ready for a new feline companion.  I took in a Persian for a friend while she traveled for six weeks.

The beautiful stupid cat was a lot of fun.  But, I had to constantly referee encounters with the Nerdling and Padishah Cat.  Persians have possibly had all common sense bred out of them.  Common sense must reside in the sinuses.  No matter how many times Nerdling grabbed a handful of fur, Padishah never learned to run from him.  But then, I don’t think the Padishah was geared that way.  He had a very elegant walk, sashaying along with his flowing tail trailing behind him.  Padishah would occasionally trot like a dressage horse: it was no faster than a walk, but with a bit more action in the gait.  I’m used to cats pelting through the house at full speed for no apparent reason.  Such indignities were beneath Padishah Cat.  Apparently, self-preservation by fleeing my errant son was also an indignity to be avoided.

Padishah Cat was very curious.  He liked to explore the house, dishwasher, closets, and suchlike.  My favorite was the day he was investigating a suitcase.  We never seem to get the luggage put away before it’s time to travel again.  I had one rolling bag, standing on end, against the wall of my room.  Padishah jumped up on top, because it seemed like fun.  Even more fun, the zipper wasn’t fully closed.  Padishah realized he could just slip down through the open portion.  Thought led to action and Cat was caught in the suitcase.  I was glad I saw his amazing disappearing act.  Heaven only knows how long Padishah would have been stuck in there before it entered his inbred mind to request release from solitary.

After the trial run with Padishah Cat, I decided we (meaning Nerdling) were not ready for a cat just yet.