Yesterday morning around seven I got a call from our across the street neighbor and good friend Cindy. She was in a pinch. Her second oldest boy, Josh, was sick, but she was supposed to set up the book fair at their school that day.
“Is there anyway you can watch him for a few hours?”
“Of course!”
Initially she needed to drop him off at 7:30 when she left to take her other son to school, but her husband decided to take the morning off. That way she could set up until about noon, come home, and he could head in to work after that.
But she called me around 9:30 to say the book fair truck hadn’t been there yet, she was back home, her husband had left for work, and she’d just gotten a call the truck would get there at 1:30.
“Would you still be willing to watch Josh for me?”
“Sure!”
It was arranged she’d drop him off at one.
Murph loves company, and so do the cats. They were overjoyed to learn we’d be having a visitor –even if that just meant snuggling with Josh on the couch. Which is what his mom assured me was all he needed –a place to crash. (Well, that a bathroom and a TV.)
Josh was in the recovery stages after battling flu-like symptoms for three days. Or so I thought. It soon became clear he was well on the road to health.
He sat on the couch for all of 30 minutes before he wandered into what we call the playroom. (It’s the formal living and dining room which we use for neither purpose. One side houses the pinball and foosball tables, the other has all the cats’ huts, toys, and Murph’s toys.)
With the exception of the first 30 minutes on the couch and another 45 minute couch break I imposed on him later, he spent the next four and a half hours playing with the cats and Murphy.
I’m always telling anyone who will listen –including Josh, his older brother, and his little brother and sister– how much the cats love to play in the huts with the Wiggy Wand, this one toy Josh and his family gave the cats for Christmas. Trouble is, no one ever believes me. Josh got to see first hand how nuts the cats are for that toy. And how they be-bop around in their huts chasing after it –and each other.
Having never seen it, and not understanding what I truly meant, Josh spent a good deal of time rolling on the floor cracking up when Mr. Meow and Tabby really got going. Well, they say laughter’s the best medicine…. He should be fully cured today!
TOP and MIDDLE: Cats in their huts; BOTTOM: the Wiggy Wand
He also helped me administer three more Pooch IQ tests to Murphy. I don’t know who got a bigger kick out of that –Murphy or Josh.
Nor do I know who was babysitting who. Even though Murphy, Tabby and Mr. Meow were supposed to be attending to Josh, he ended up entertaining them –and pooping them out. Something I’m usually hard-pressed to do.
Today they’re all claiming a sick day and are just lounging around!
Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.