As I have already mentioned, we adopted a kitty to become the shop kitty of our new store. The idea was that Peanut was to live at the store. That’s what shop kitties do. But CS didn’t like that she’d be alone through the one day a week the store was closed. So on Sunday evenings, he’d bring her home and then take her back on Tuesday. Within a very short time, CS decided that that was not enough. He didn’t like her being left alone during the evenings after the shop was closed. I explained that it was no different than the time she’d be alone at the house while we were at work. I couldn’t get through to him. So next thing I know he is driving kitty to and from work with him every day. I thought Peanut would get used to this drive–even come to enjoy it. I was wrong. Apparently the noise affects their inner ears and that is why cats don’t like to be in cars.

So here’s Peanut, the shop kitty, being driven around town against her will to avoid being left alone. It made no sense to me. Soon enough, however, there’d be a reason why CS could not take kitty with him to work on a given day–he had to make a stop on the way or some such other lame excuse. Then, frankly, he just stopped doing it all together. So then Peanut began to live in our home 24/7 and was left alone during the day every day.

Then we went out of town for a week and brought kitty back to the shop. Her previous family came in to feed her along with the help of the (non-cat loving) employees. This did not go well–actually, it went just fine. It’s just that our employees whined and CS used it as the final excuse to keep Peanut from resuming her duties as the shop kitty. Can you guess her crime? She pooped on the floor. Ohmygod, call animal control. I am sure she did it as an act of rebellion. Maybe she knew the consequences of her act, as she is quite the smart little thing. The result: she has been our house kitty ever since.

Well that is all fine, I suppose. But here’s a typical evening at home with Peanut:

I get home before CS. She cries her head off like she hasn’t eaten in a week. I feed her. She gobbles it down, then goes to sit by herself. Then she naps. Then we hear the door of CS’s car. Well, that just perks her right up. Once CS is inside and settled on the sofa, it is less than 2 minutes before Peanut is crawling to him to curl onto his lap. Often, this somehow requires her to walk over me to get to him. He explains that when he’s home alone with her, she sits on his hands as he tries to do work on the computer. I have seen her do this to CS; she has never done this to me.

Then the coup de grace comes when we go to bed. For some reason, this cat MUST sleep on my side of the bed (I think it’s because I am closer to the door and she likes the vantage point). And she’s a bed hog. But before she settles down to sleep and wrangles me to the dreaded middle of the bed (I know, I need to just kick her out of the bed–you don’t know the single-minded determination of this cat), most nights she unceremoniously crawls over me to make biscuits on CS–an act cats do on their (surrogate) mothers. Of course, this just makes CS laugh. ha ha ha.

I just pray that Baby likes me a wee bit more than she likes CS. But I fear she’ll be just like the other animals and babies in our world–uncannily attracted to CS’s inner calm. Ugh.