told you

Told you, Peepers.  I told you.  You were sittin' right there in that chair when I TOLD you.

But did you listen to your darlin' Seville, ol' peep of mine?  DID you?

OH NO...  No, you wouldn't dream of listenin', would you?  Why, it felt like you were actually ignorin' me.

MOUSES!

What?  What's that, Peepers?  What's that you're babblin' on about now?

Say WHAT?  You're sayin' that you did, in fact, hear what I said but thought...

You thought WHAT?

Of all the no-good-for-nothin' things for a peep to think.

And of your own darlin', ginger-furred kitty.

How could you?

MOUSES!

I know, I know...  I know what you're thinkin'.  You're thinkin' that I, Seville the Cat, told Peepers somethin' which she chose to ignore and then, as if that wasn't bad enough, did somethin' far worse.

The peep, I mean.  It was the peep who did somethin' far worse, whatever that might be, and now...

And now...

Awww....  MOUSES!

Okay, so here's the deal: The other night, I heard a noise.  I told the peep I heard said noise AND I THOUGHT she was ignorin' me.  But in reality...

But in reality...

But in reality, she did somethin' far worse.  Apparently, Peepers didn't so much ignore me as she did question what I was hearin'.

'Cause SHE heard it, too.

And do you know what she did?

She blamed me.

ME!

The most wonderful and innocent kitty a peep could ever know.

ME.

MOUSES!

And if not me, Saffron, I suppose.

MOUSES!

So here's the rest of the deal: When Peepers went out the next mornin', she found the green bin lyin' on the ground with its contents scattered all over the driveway.

And let me tell you somethin', my wonderful pals: I, Seville the Cat, DID. NOT. DO. THAT.

Never done such a naughty thing in all my nine lives.

MOUSES!

You just be quiet over there, ol' peep of mine.  When I say I've never done anythin' that naughty, I MEAN, I'VE NEVER EVER DONE ANYTHIN' THAT NAUGHTY IN ALL MY NINE LIVES.  And might I suggest you take me at my word.

MOUSES!

Besides, I couldn't knock that ol' green bin over, even if I tried.  It's pretty big, you see.  And quite heavy.  And when there's stuff in it, the weight is all concentrated at the bottom, so knockin' it over is really, really hard, and...

NEVER YOU MIND HOW I KNOW, PEEPERS.

Yeah, well what sounds like experience to you is uh...

Umm...

Nothin' more than an educated guess.

Like I said, NEVER YOU MIND.

By gosh and by golly, a cat makes several dozen prior attempts to knock a loaded green bin down, and fails, but when the green bin IS eventually knocked to the ground, it's the innocent kitty who ends up bein' accused and interrogated.

MOUSES!

So what was it that knocked that ol' green bin down, you ask?

Probably raccoons.  Maybe a bear.  Or quite possibly - and, in fact, most likely - ALIENS.

Those little green fellers get up to all sorts of trouble when you leave 'em unsupervised.

Fact.

MOUSES!

 

foul mood

Of all the nerve...

OF ALL THE NERVE...

My gosh that peep is rude.

MOUSES!

I know, I know...  I know what you're thinkin'.  You're thinkin', some peep has been rude to MY peep.  And you know what?

You would be wrong.

MOUSES!

While it's true that some peep MIGHT have been rude to my peep, I try not to concern myself with such mundane matters.  Peepers has gotta learn to stand up for herself, you see, and what better way for her to stand up for herself than to stand up to peeps who would be rude?

MOUSES!

No, rude peeps are only of a concern to me when they're bein' rude to me and the fact of the matter is, MY peep was incredibly rude to me early this mornin'.  She was rude to Saffy, too, but you know... Stuff happens.

MOUSES!

So how was ol' Peepers rude to Saffron and me, you ask?

Well...

Well she wasn't so much rude as she was...

Nope, she was rude.

MOUSES!

Okay, so I'll tell you what happened.  I asked Peepers a question and she up and left the room.

Can you believe it?

MOUSES!

Okay, so TECHNICALLY she was actually already on her way outside when I was askin' her the question, and it is quite possible she didn't hear me ask it, but still...

RUDE.

MOUSES!

The real problem is, Peepers was in a foul mood this mornin'.  Foul as foul can be.  Foul as a hen house full of chickens, she was.

MOUSES!

So apparently...

Apparently we had a visitor last night.  Maybe two.  Maybe three!  And you know what?  You know what those visitors did?

Well they didn't bring me prezzies and THAT is rude, too.

MOUSES!

And not only did they not bring me, Seville the Cat, a prezzie, they left behind a right ol' mess.  The bird feeder hangin' from the veranda was down on the ground; empty of all its seed AND, turns out, the metal cord thingy from which it hangs has been broken beyond repair.

Yeah, when Peepers re-filled the knocked down feeder only to discover it couldn't be hung up again, she stomped off in ANOTHER rage, for sure.

And the metal stand thingy with all the hooks, the one in the middle of the front lawn, was also knocked down; but Peepers managed to get it back up, even though one of the prong leg thingies was all bent out of shape.

That made her foulness all the more foul, if you can believe she could get even fouler.

Oh, and the two acorn feeders hangin' from said metal stand thingy with all the hooks?  The two acorns that are Peepers' very favourite bird-feeders of all time on account of their bein' so cute?

Well...

Well...

Well one she found halfway across the lawn.

MOUSES!

And the other one...

The other one...

THE OTHER ONE...

THE OTHER ONE looks like it was trampled by a stampede, is completely bent out of shape - like Peepers, herself, I believe - and is totally, utterly, unreservedly unusable and unfillable, not to mention useless, to be sure.

Yup, the thing is as flat as a pancake, she said.

MOUSES!

And just who were these visitors, you ask?  And ask you might, on account of my havin' asked the very same question, although an answer I did not get.

Yeah, that was about the time Peepers so rudely stomped outta the house.

MOUSES!

Well my first guess was a neighbour.  Some of 'em have found out they appear in my book - YES, I am still workin' on that - and are none-too-pleased 'bout the fact, you see.

But then I thought, why would a neighbour wanna give me EVEN MORE fodder for my book?  That would be stupid beyond belief.

So then I thought perhaps it was an alien workin' on crop circles who took a wrong turn.

But that made no sense once I rethunk it.

Rethunk...

MOUSES!

Then rocky raccoons came to mind.  They've had their eyes on those bird feeders for a while now.  But could a raccoon, even a chubby one, squish a metal acorn feeder like that?

Probably not.

So now I'm wonderin'...

NOW I'M WONDERIN'...

NOW I'M WONDERIN' if it was that big ol' bear some peeps have seen wanderin' about.  Could that bear have been visitin' my house late last night?

And if so, WHY THE MOUSES DIDN'T HE BRING ME PREZZIES?  ARE BEARS NOT TAUGHT PROPER ETIQUETTE WHEN THEY'RE YOUNG?

Who the mouses goes to dinner at someone's house without bringin' a gift for the host!

Of all the nerve.

A little bottle of nip wine would have been nice.

MOUSES!

***********************

And remember:

IF IN DOUBT,

DON'T. GO. OUT.

Continue to practice SOCIAL DISTANCIN' measures

AND KEEP WASHIN' YOUR PAWS.

MOUSES!

Remember to mask up, too.

twenty weeks

Don't get any ideas, Peepers.  DON'T GET ANY IDEAS.  DON'T EVEN THINK 'BOUT BRINGIN' HIM HOME!

I'm tellin' ya...

PEEPS.

MOUSES!

So the peeps and I have been pretty much stuck here together for twenty weeks now, due to this pandemic thingy.

And just so you know, twenty weeks is one hundred and eight million, eight hundred and sixty-four thousand seconds in cat time; and that's a whole LOTTA seconds, for sure.

MOUSES!

THANKFULLY, Peepers has taken to goin' for evenin' walks once more, and I can get her out of my fur for an hour or so every night.  That means 'bout an hour less of hearin' her cry, Sivvers, don't you want to come into the family room for a cuddle?

Did I say cry?

I meant WHINE.

MOUSES!

Now durin' these last twenty weeks, we've had ZERO peeps visitin' the house.  Oh sure, the courier comes every now and then, but he just drops the parcel he's carryin' and runs.  Never gets to step inside the door.

Not that he ever did before.

MOUSES!

But other than the courier, NO ONE has stepped paw even near the house.

In other words, we're not open for visitors.


MOUSES!

But last night...

Last night, Peepers went out for her walk, and...

SHE CAME ACROSS THE BEAR.

Okay, so technically SHE didn't come across the bear.  A neighbour did.  And he cycled up behind her and said, "Just saw a bear three streets down.  Biggest bear I've ever seen."

Or somethin' like that.

MOUSES!

Now YOU'D THINK that after hearin' that, Peepers would turn tail...

Ponytail?

Yeah, that works.

I suppose.

But like I was sayin', you'd think that after hearin' the biggest bear this neighbour has ever seen was just three streets over, Peepers would make a beeline for home.

But...

But my peep...

IS SUPER STUPID, AT BEST.

MOUSES!

Instead of comin' home and inside, Peepers continued along on her merry way, walkin' her usual walk.

Totally OBLIVIOUS of the bear.

Oblivious...  Stupid...  Whatever.

My PURRsonal theory is that with all this stayin' at home for twenty weeks business, Peepers is lonely.  That's she's missin' havin' other peeps over.  That she...

That she figured if she met up with the bear, she'd invite him on over for dinner.

Because as far as we know, bears don't carry the virus.

But that brings me back to what I said earlier:

DON'T EVEN THINK 'BOUT BRINGIN' HIM HOME!

MOUSES!

'Cause when one invites a bear over for dinner, one never really knows WHO that dinner might be.

Or should that be whom?

Whatever.

MOUSES!

***********************

And remember:

IF IN DOUBT,

DON'T. GO. OUT.

Continue to practice SOCIAL DISTANCIN' measures

AND KEEP WASHIN' YOUR PAWS.

MOUSES!

Remember to mask up, too.