cat woman

So besides the fact that all the women in my family usually get divorced (I'm the exception as I've never been married), they all seem to have an unnatural fear of various animals.

For instance, Aunt Kass is afraid of turtles, my Mom is afraid of cats, my cousin Stacy is afraid of frogs and owls (she has two fears), and I'm afraid of birds (well, any bird over the size of a sparrow). My grandmother, Nannie, also had the fear of cats.

I'm usually the one my mother calls on to protect her from cats when we are out and about. They always seem to sense when one does not like them, and they pick that person to make friends with. My mom took off running down Eastern Ave once, after two kittens popped up next to her when they came around the corner of a building. I never laughed so hard... but, last night, the joke was on me.

There's a new grey tabby living on our block, who likes my car for some reason. We got home from running errands yesterday and I heard lots of meowing. I was able to locate the cat, who was under my car, and the neighbor came over to get him out, as my mom stood in the street waving her hands and pointing. The cat walked away, and we didn't see him for awhile, until we went out much later for dinner. On the way home, there he was again, under my car in the driveway.

He ran out, and went under our deck... which my mother now has to walk on to get into the house. After she had me on my hands and knees, trying to look under the deck, she stomped up the steps and into the house.. only to return with a bowl of water - for me to throw under the deck to scare the cat.

I did not see the point of this exercise, but to humor her, I took the bowl from her. Well, trying to stand on a ramp and aim under the small opening under the deck was not the easiest task. The water left the lip of the bowl, only to splash back all over me - none of it made it under the deck. Mother had cleared a safe distance away, now standing in the street again waving her arms. But I'm sure the look on my face was priceless when I turned to her with water dripping down the front of me.

She found this to be hysterically funny... me... not so much.