Ms. Kitty: The Maid

When it’s time to make the bed I’m rarely alone because it is one of Ms. Kitty’s favorite games. She is as much help as a two-year-old. If I am spreading the covers in the morning, she sits on top of them. She weighs about fifteen pounds, and it is difficult to smooth the wrinkles with her riding on top. If I am changing the sheets and throw the sheet up to trap air, Ms. Kitty is under it in a flash and it settles on top of her. I then have a large lump under the covers that remains there until the chore is finished. The sham pillows on the head of the bed provide more fun. She dives under them and hides, all but her tail. When this game is over the pillows often end up on the floor. Recently, she has discovered how to get into the bed by coming up under the covers from the foot of the bed and out the side. She doesn’t need me for this trick. It’s a one cat show.

Ms. Kitty loves to sit on top of it, it doesn’t matter what it is. It could be a piece of clothing tossed on the bed, a piece of paper dropped on the floor, the top of my lap top computer when closed, the suitcase I am packing, or the end table with the lamp that she examines occasionally and rubs her chin on the shade.

While packing for a recent trip I shut the lid of the suitcase, but didn’t zip it shut. When I came back into the room several pieces of clothing were on the floor, and Ms. Kitty was gone. If the suitcase is empty, she loves to get inside and make herself comfortable.

Ms. Kitty has mastered the art of looking innocent after an adventure. Her only punishment is a squirt of water from a spray bottle. All I have to do is show her the bottle, or imitate the noise it makes, and she is gone!

Ms. Kitty is now napping on top of the tall curio case, and like the mother with the two-year-old, it is time for me to rest too!