Of Redocarations and Cats

The flu took longer than expected to leave me lucid-minded, and I figured I might as well just start afresh on a new week.

Part of my preparations for the upcoming Chinese New Year included replacing my dish-drying rack with a newer and cleaner model. Figuring I might as well replace it early instead of waiting til CNY proper, I propped up the box in the living room and prepped myself for some dish transferring work.

"Mrowl, Daddy. What's that? Did you get me a new toy?" asked a hopeful Maxie.

"Hahaha. No, baby. This isn't a kitty toy. You have enough of those already! This is for Daddy's kitchen," I replied jauntily.

"Pfft, kitchen! You only use that to make me my dinner anyway," scoffed my kitty while pawing at the box.

"Pfft yourself! I do use it for non-cat related stuff, thankyouverymuch," I said, indignant at her glossing over my own meals. At this point, I had just finished putting away the dishes from my old dish rack, and it was time to unveil my new chrome-plated purchase.

Smells weird...

Is that a new mouse trap?

I assembled the rack without much fanfare and stood back to admire my handiwork. Before throwing out the old though, something caught my eye and put into mind another substitution that could be made in the house.

Remember this box?

Maxie's little shoebox bed was getting a tad worn at the edges. As my old dish rack had a water collection tray that was still clean, I opted to get rid of her box and recycle the collection tray as a new bed instead.

The old dish rack, note the unwashable stains

Et voila! Kitty's new bed!

I opted to keep her bedraggled canvas "recycle" bag around just so she wouldn't freak out by my removing all her beds from the living room.

"Maxie, come check out what Daddy got for you!" I cried. Silence greeted me. Perhaps rashly removing her box wasn't such a smart idea.

In cold sweat, fearful that I had annoyed Ms High-and-Mighty, I looked around for kitty in all her usual hiding spots. Nothing. I called and couldn't hear her collar's bell's ring.

A little nonplussed, I bent to retrieve the box that housed my new dish rack from the floor to put it away.

 

Much to my shock, a disembodied challenge came from within. "En garde, human!"

Meep!

"Maxie, is that you?" I asked, somewhat stupidly. In response, the paw shifted and a bemused face came into view.

"Duh, who else?"

"Were you expecting the fish fairy, Daddy? Honestly, what were you thinking?" she said waspishly.

 

"Seriously, Daddy, I'm trying to play with my new toy here."

I lifted the flap of the box and gave her a sheepish grin. "I thought you were avoiding me cos you were in a huff  cos I substituted your box with a new bed."

"New bed?"

"You WHAT?" she snapped and came bounding out of the box to stare in aghast at her unwilling new procurement.

"I can't believe you did that without asking me!" she complained, before stalking to the bedroom all miffed up.

"It was getting worn down! You need a new bed for the new year anyway!" I objected, desperately trying to score some logic points.

In vain, I watched as she curled herself up under my bed and refused to come out. I decided to leave my angry kitty to sulk by herself and settled down for a read. Soon, somnolence overtook me and before I knew it, I was dreaming of a world where Maxie enjoyed my hugs and random displays of affection.

Alas! All good things come to an end, as I woke from my siesta and walked into the living room, bleary-eyed. A surprising sight greeted me.

"Well, I suppose it would have to do."

Maxie had somehow pushed her new bed to the right and got her recycle bag onto it as further padding.

"B-b-but I thought you didn't like it?" I asked, still in shock.

"It's no box, but I guess it'll have to do. Besides, you might regret getting me this bed some day," came the enigmatic reply before I was dismissed from Her Highness's attention.

I'm still waiting to see what she meant by that, but as you know, nobody can ever tell what a cat will do next!