HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1990-12-19, Page 41Pixie at Christmas
by Mike O'Neill
My daughter brought home the cat
about six years ago and named her Pixie.
Within a very short time she established
herself to be somewhere between
Supreme Empress of the Universe and an
Egyptian deity. A .typical cat.
She allowed us to pay homage by
providing daytimewarmth, food, an oc-
casional tummy tickle, ear scratch and
laps to curl up on,
Daytime would find her patrolling her
domain on padded paws, ghosting along
baseboard, gliding beneath couches
stalking unsuspecting ankles. Often she'd
charge from behind drapes,attacking with
a ferocity that proved . startling but pain-
less. Mostly she would survey her realm
from atop the sofa, exuding alt the majes-
ty she could muster. This high-falutin'
royalty was lost on my wife, however, if
Pixie were to sharpen her claws on the
couch or gift us with.. a homemade hair
ball. She was quite, good at that, actually.
Christmas .approached. It was .to be
Pixie's first with us: She managed to stay
out front' under feet as furniture was
rearranged to make ' mom for the tree.
She'd offer kindlyadvice from time to
time, but most just ignored :us. I really
don't think she understood the excitement
of an evergreen; There were hundreds of
them on the hill that she patrolled at.
night.
Aah... night. That brings up the greatest
point of contention :between Pixie and
myself. It concerned where she would
spend the., ilaikest 4tours. Generally, I
would toss her out without too much fuss.
Lately the task was getting harder. The
snow had come, and when Pixie landed in
it,. she would lift one foot, shake it, putit
down, then lift another, shake it and so on
till all four feet were used to the cold.
She would turn around, make a face at
me, •perhaps whisper a curse and head out
to hunt in the bush behind the house.
When we decorated thetree. Her
ty would watch from her perch .on.the
sofa. Occasionally her dignified- air was
interrupted by a particularly interesting
decoration. She developed a fascination
for the tinsel. It was draped all over the
tree, sparkling. It would sway in the
breeze when one of her human subjects.
would pass by. Once she sat before the
tree, infinitely curious, teetering back and
forth as the tinsel moved. It looked pretty.
It seemed to be alive. How would it
taste? I noticed her as she chewed- her
way along one strand, swallowing it as
she went. As I removed the tinsel from
her gullet, I knew she had learned her
lesson. She's never eaten any since then.
The Christmas season tends to soften
some people. I'm one of them. I'd put off
the task of evicting the cat as long as
possible. Pixie never let on that she ap-
preciated it. On Christmas. Eve she tried
her best to stay the night with us. The
whole family searched high and low.
Nowhere in sight. One of the kids lost
interest in the search and returned to his
close scrutiny of brightly wrapped pack-
ages.
ackages. There was Pixie, almost invisible in
the shadows and concealed with trappings
and bows. She came out wrinkling her
nose, resigning herself to the compulsory
explulsion. Tomorrow was another day.
Tomorrow was indeed a special day for
her two -legged servants. They seemed to
be up earlier •t4 let her in. They smiled a
lot. They didn't seem to mind moo much
when she shoed a bit of their ceerrr al. At
least tie shorter ones didn'tl W
paper was spread around the floorwwi
haphazard exuberance' that was the
trademark of the young, Wrapp:ing paper
that proved so bright and joyful to
humans seamed to utterly fascinate the
cat, She pounced and sprang and prated
and whopped (but didn't chew) in a
gleeful exhibition that proved kittenhood
was not that far in, pas..
Now it was time for her present. A
wooden post about two feet tall had been
cleverly disguised in used carpet. Between
the caret and the post was a copious
quantity of catnip. She looked at me and
smiled, rubbed on it once as if to say
"That'snice, dear", the way one does
when they have no use for the gift, Just
to prove that I, was right, she proceeded
to sharpen n her claws:_ on the couch.•
The scolding came loud and fast. Up
until then I'd never seen a cat do a back-
ward somersault at the sound of a human
voice. Certain that bodily harm would
befall her, Pixie darted through the stack .
of papers and dove headlong into a dis-.
carded box. It turned over on her so
precisely that it could only have happened
by accident. When I picked the box off of ;
her she looked up with a beautific look
hitherto reserved only for human toddlers.
The;aeason passed happily; The kids
and I saved a piece of wrapping paper
and had hours:' of fun; tossing it, crunched
into a ;