pacifist cats

the other day anna and i were walking to the colisseum to go work out and we noticed that strewn all along the sidewalks were these massive, hard-shelled beetles. they were abouth the size of my fist and their backs loked to be protected by something like a helmet. many of them were dead, but one was on his back trying to turn over. he couldnt, so i kicked him over and he groggily climbed up a wall.

one of the nice things about the little indiscretion performed by my ex roomate/friend who had to flee our apartment is that anna and i got her room. her room, which is now ours, has a large window opening out to the patio. nobody else goes on the patio so i spend a lot of time there now reading, or just sitting and listening to birds. our old room had a window weirdly overlooking the downstairs apartment where the girls who lived there would smoke cigarettes all day long.

ive been trying to make the male cat tough ever since iveknown him. his natural nature when he sees somone is to run away. he always does it. but, once he knows you he will come to you and sit on your lap. i play tranquily for a while and then usually dangle a string in front of his face which agitates him into violence and he flips around and gets frustrated that he cant get to it. when i got back from colombia he actually caught the string i dangled and ripped it from my hands. he then slunk off with it back to his den and tortured it like a good cat.

yesterday i was sitting on the patio reading a book as the sun set. when it got dark i turned the lights on and continued. it was a nice warm night with a cool breeze. suddenly, i heard what i thought was a moth flapping around bumping into the walls next to the lights. i was startled by the force with which it was slamming itself into the walls -each time there was a crack and i couldnt tell if maybe the walls were coming down. i soon realized that it was one of the football beetles and it whizzed by my head and landed itself on the laundry machine. i went over to inspect it and found that it is certainly a relative of the rhinocerous as it har two distinct eyes and a horn poking out from its nose and from its head.

i was watching it and the girl cat came up from and pounced onto the laundry machine and eyed the bug. i anticipated a fight. the bug didnt move and the cat inched closer to it and put her nose to it. she didnt do anything so i assumed that it was a sort of cat hunting ritual. in a second she snaped straight and began pawing at the bug. the bug stil didnt move - not even an antenna, and the cat soon grew bored. i was disappointed because i wanted to see a fight, but i sat back down andd awaited the boy cats turn. strangely though, he was nowhere to be found. once, he ran upstairs from the garden where the cats like to hang out, but when i went to grab him to show him where the bug was, he did his favorite run away routine. i waited another ten minutes, the bug didnt move, and the cat did not come back. so, i plucked at their metal fod bowls and the sound attracted them both. they ran to me but the boy cat noticed first that it was a ruse. he ran back downstairs. the girl cat, who i believe is learning disabled in some way - but is evidently brave, stayed and allowed me to pick her up and put her near the bug for a fight. she accomodated for as long as it interested her, pawing and sniffing at the unresponsive beast, but soon joined her brother back in the garden. anna told me that they are babies and couldnt be expected to hunt so well, but i think they are old enough to find their own food if need be.

later, we were in our room and opened our window. this always attracts the cats who prefer to stretch out on our bed rather than doing anything else catlike. soon enough the boy cat came bounding through the window, but i was there to catch him this time. i brought him out to the laundry machine where the bug was still sitting dormant. i knew, just knew that the waving of the antennae would remind fat-fat the cat about the string and he would attack and eat. instead, nothing. all he did was paw - without nails- and then try to leap back into our room and take up bedspace. i stopped him and closed the window.