Cats on Tuesdays: Mike the Mysterious Episode 5: Feather Love

It's been about a month since Mike was appointed Employee of the Month by the real cat brains of the household, Gretchen, the Queen of Domesticity. Well, all during that time, the Queen has taxed her little kingdom of Fluffheads to the limit. Besides making them find and pick up all of her 84 pink plastic balls, whenever she's through playing with them, I suspect that she's also been having Mike fetch her treats in the middle of the night, while we sleep.

The only clue I have is the little trail of crumbs left behind in the morning. How Mike's getting the jar lid open is beyond me. I know Gretchen can't do it, so he must be using his special, mysterious powers to get the Temptations out of the jar. We buy Gretchen the Salmon flavored Temptations and pour them from the blue foil pouch into a jar with a screw on lid. Otherwise, Gretchen would chew on the pouch until she gets the treats out. I know plastic is not good for her and have to keep it away from her. Besides, once the foil pouch is full of little teeth holes the rest get stale. And she definitely knows which of the jars holds her treats.

Gretchen has been rather moody lately because her boyfriend, who lives in Sweden, can't talk to her on the computer for a whole month; his humans took a very long and far away vacation. So, she spends most of her time hanging out in a windowsill, daydreaming about her sweetheart. Meanwhile, Mike has been forced to do her bidding. The only thing I know for sure he can't do for her, and probably won't do no matter what the prize, is clean out the litter box. I still have that honor.

The other Fluffheads, White Kitten, Zoo Kitty and Beanie Kitty are all lazing about as usual. They give a good show in the beginning but as soon as Mike turns his back they're back in their cozy little bed, sleeping. I asked Mike why he lets them get away with so much? He just shrugged and said, "They have good intentions for creatures with heads full of fiberfill, besides, I can get the job done faster and better by doing it myself."

"Well," I said, patting him on his soft, little head, also picking a few pieces of lint from his crumpled up black fur, "You should be rewarded for all of your hard work. So what would you like this month? Did Gretchen name you her Employee of the Month for July, too?"

Mike's eyes stared at the floor. "I think she's too busy dreaming and thinking up poems to care about what I get as a reward. I suppose it would be nice, to be Employee of the Month again, but it's rather boring, I think." his golden eyes twinkled in the sunlight streaming through the window, brightening his countenance a bit. "Couldn't I have something different this time? Like some feathers of my very own?"

Feathers? I thought about what I had at the moment that had feathers on it that Mike would like. I didn't think it would be nice to take a feather or two from Gretchen's new feather wand. I'm sure that would make her quiet unhappy to share what was now her favorite toy. "How about a change of sweaters?" I suggested. "The bears aren't using them right now and you do look rather spiffy in them. Would you like to pick out a new color?"

I pulled out the craft drawer where I keep the bears things, placed it on the kitchen table and showed Mike a few sweaters. Mike looked interested for a tiny moment, and even picked out a red and tan colored sweater; I think just to please me. But I could see he had his hopes set on feathers. Mike was about to don the new sweater and cap when he spied the Halloween costumes for the bears. A witches hat with orange under the brim and a vampires cap, black on one side and orange on the other. "Oh!" he exclaimed excitedly, "Orange! More orange! I like orange. I look good in orange."

I said, "It's not Halloween for several months, why don't you wait. "No!" he said a little more forcefully than I think he intended. "Please excuse me," he said more quietly, "I really like the orange and if I could have some orange feathers on the hat…wouldn't that look great?" With sparkling eyes and upturned whiskers, the best thing he could do for a smile, he pleaded, "Please?"

Okay, I thought, why not. Mike does all the work around here for Gretchen; why not let him have what pleases him for a little while. The bears won't mind, after all, they've been unceremoniously dumped into a large, black, plastic garbage bag and stored in the storeroom. Then it hit me. "Go ahead and pick out what you like," I said to Mike, "I've got an idea. I'll be right back." While Mike, and now Gretchen, were going through the bears clothes in the craft drawer, I slipped off to my bedroom closet where I have hat's stored in boxes. In one of them was a bright, orange straw hat from Hawaii with lots of fluffy orange feathers on it. Mike nearly cried when he saw me come back into he room with it. So we pinched a few feathers from places that wouldn't show, from the brim of the hat, and I glued them on the little witches hat that Mike had picked out.

I've never seen a happier fluffhead. We turned the little cape to the orange side out and Mike posed with his new duds and the orange straw hat that my mother had bought in Hawaii over forty years ago; it's been in a hatbox in my closet for the past ten.

"This makes me look mysterious, yes?" Mike grinned as he posed for the camera. "I like to look magical and mysterious, you know."

I thought about it for a moment and realized that Mike did look good in the black and orange costume, but I think what he really needs is a black and purple wizards outfit, with sparkling glitter and a shiny moon, and some stars on it. Then he'll really look mysterious. Perhaps next month I'll get around to it.

After scolding Gretchen and the Fluffheads about getting into the treat jar, they all agreed not to do that anymore. Once peace was restored, I played a rousing game of feathers and pink balls with Mike and Gretchen, and now, all are off in their favorite napping places, sleeping away a very, very hot afternoon. This is the kind of day I pray the AC doesn't fail. DBB