New Beginnings

Well, I’ve had a good, warm nap.  It’s so nice to have a comfortable bed with warm covers.

It happened one night.  Dad bundled Mina and me into the box and packed all of our stuff in a big car with lots of seats and all those boxes that smell like Mom.  The ones that were in the basement at Office.  Mina has been so terrified and depressed since Mom left that she can’t even talk to me.  Anyway, there we were in the box in the big car and we began to roll.  Memmet [sic] was driving (Mom says he is a better driver than Dad) and Mina and I fell asleep.  When we woke up, we heard Mom’s voice!  Hallelujah!  She’s not dead after all.  She got in the big car with us and told Memmet [sic] where to drive.  Pretty soon, we were stopped on a street.  Mom and Dad tried to unlock a door, but their keys didn’t work.  They tried to wake someone up, but that didn’t work, either.  Mom left, and the rest of us stayed behind.  Dad and Memmet [sic] took all the boxes and things (including us) out of the big car and he drove away.  Dad and we spent the night on the sidewalk with our boxes.  When it got light, the door opened and someone who lives on the street helped Dad to get the boxes and things up some stairs.  Mom came later and was so glad to see us, almost as glad as we were to see her.  When everything was up the stairs, Mom and Dad let us out of the box and there we were in a place with several rooms.  We were scared, but there really wasn’t any place to hide.  There wasn’t any furniture or anything.  There was a refrigerator and a washer, but no furniture.

Our furry beds were there, so we napped, while Mom and Dad left.  We were lonely and scared, but at least we felt pretty safe.  When Mom and Dad came back, they put the memory foam mattress on the hard bed and tried to sleep.  Dad was successful, but Mom tossed and turned all night.  It was hard to sleep with them because of that and the hardness of the bed.

The next day, Mom and Dad were gone all day again, and we explored and slept.  They came back off and on, bringing things that they had bought.  The next day was pretty much the same, except some men brought a big mattress that they put in the bedroom.  It was nice and comfortable.  Sometimes they really do think of Mina and me.  It was very thoughtful of them to buy us such a nice mattress.  Mom put sheets, blanket, and comforter on it.  Oh, how nice it was!  She had a pillow, too.  Then Dad brought a small table for the kitchen, and then a white thing for on top of the counter.  Mom said she will cook on that.  The man who helped Dad bring things up from the street came back and did something with the washer and the cooker thing.  Is this finally home?  Mom had her coffee maker and her electric tea kettle and a few frying pans, but how were we to live here without more furniture?  Actually, Mina and I had enough for us, but we didn’t see how Mom and Dad were going to live with it.  Of course, it turned out to be just Mom and us, as Dad left as soon as the man was done with the washer and the cooker thing.

Some men came a few days later and did some things in the kitchen.  They made the heat thing stop leaking and did some things to the kitchen cabinets.  Mom cleaned and cleaned, because there was a lot of dust in the house.  She calls it an apartment.  She calls it home.  Dad came to visit once and it was really good to see him.  We thought maybe he would stay, but he had to go back to his mother’s house.  Mom says that he will come to live with us when the business is settled, but then he will go to Europe for a while before he is here all the time.

Mom has gone out sometimes and has been gone for a whole day sometimes.  She says she is teaching English at a school.  I’m not sure what English is or, for that matter, what a school is, but if she can teach it, that’s fine, as long as she has time for us.  Most days she is home with us, but on the weekends she is gone most of the time.  She bought some big kettles, and cooked more food for us which, by the way, is very delicious, although Mina doesn’t eat it.

The mattress is very comfortable.  We usually spend most of the day under the comforter, as this place is not always very warm.  There are heat things, but Mom doesn’t always turn them on, so it gets cold sometimes.  Also, they usually go off at night and Mom has to start them up again in the mornings.  It is not a bad place, but the floors are very cold sometimes and make my feet and legs hurt.  I sleep in the furry bed a lot, too, not just under the comforter.

Speaking of sleeping, I think I hear a nap calling my name.

Yours,

Apache

What Now?

I’ve just had a much-needed nap.  Things have been hectic and I get so tired.

Mom has been packing, packing, and repacking.  Now she says that she will fly home by herself and Dad will bring us later.  Plans keep changing over and over again.  She says she has her ticket and will be going home on September 11.  I don’t know when that is, but it must be soon.  She says she doesn’t want to leave us here, so why will she?  Why doesn’t she just stay, too?  We don’t want her to go.  It’s not that we don’t love Dad, because we love him a lot, we just need both of them here with us.

Now there has been another change.  Dad got a call the other day and said that someone wanted to give Mom a job.  There is that job thing again.  At least they don’t want to give me a job!  She and Dad went away early one day and came back at night.  They seemed pretty happy, now they say that Mom will not be flying away.  Well, that’s okay with me, but I’m not sure what has happened to change things.  We are still here in these two rooms, both Mom and us, and everything seems to be the same.

On another day, Mom packed up her two big suitcases and she and Dad left the house.  They were gone several days, but only Dad came back.  Where is Mom?  Has she actually flown away?  Mina and I are very concerned.  Mom has escaped from prison, but we are still here.  It’s true that we have Dad, and sometimes he sleeps on the bed where Mom slept.  In fact, sometimes he lets us come out of our rooms and sleep with him in the couch room.  Dad’s mother sleeps there on the couch.  I know that her knees hurt her a lot, so I decided to go and lie on them to keep them warm for her, but she didn’t like it very much.  Sometimes humans just have no sense at all.  Anyway, we can go into the couch room at night, so that’s some improvement over our two rooms.  Why couldn’t we have done that sooner, when Mom was still here?  Life is just a big mystery sometimes.  We do not see Mom at all, so maybe she has left us for good and we will never see her again.  That would be horrible!

I miss Mom so much!  Where can she be?  I’m sure she wouldn’t just leave us, but what else can I think.  Dad is gone most of every day, and his mother goes with him, so we are all alone in our two prison rooms.  I think I will go crazy.  There have just been way too many changes in our lives, and too many people coming and going, and Mom going away a lot.  What if we never see her again?  Mom, Mom, wherever you are, please come home to your babies!  We love you and miss you.  Please come back!  Dad says that we will be with her soon in our new home.  Right!  Where have we heard that one before?  A new home.  Sure!  Maybe Mom is dead!

I have to sleep now.  If I don’t, I think I will go over the edge!

Yours,

Apache

Back Again

            I haven’t felt much like playing lately.  We spent a couple of days at the new place to live, but we didn’t like it at all.  I found a cozy place in the half kitchen room, right behind the cabinets.  It was a little hard to get out of, but it was worth it.  No one could get to me there, or so I thought.

            We didn’t like the place because it smelled bad and had some gritty dust all over it.  The dust is what was smelling bad.  There were lots of dogs around outside last night, and we didn’t like that either.  All the windows were closed, too.  It was awfully lonely without Mom and Dad.  We’ve stayed alone before, but in our own home, so it wasn’t so terribly bad.  We still had familiar things around us for comfort.  Miss Patchy says she thinks that they don’t love us anymore.  I’m not so sure, but she could be right.

            Before they left to go home the second day, Dad got me out from behind the cabinet and put me in the carrier with Miss Patchy.  We were both pretty mad about that, and then riding in that car again.  The car stopped a couple of times and we thought that we were going to have a long trip again, like before.  However, the last time we stopped, we all got out and they took us back into the house again.  We’re not crazy to be back where Dad’s mother is, but it’s better than that awful new place to live.  They apologized to us and said we could stay at the house.  We will have to watch Dad’s mother, though; she is sneaky and always leaves the door open.  Sometimes I think she wants us to go outside, but I’ve been out there and it’s not all that great.  It was fun to chase the cat Mom calls Little Bit, but it’s a little scary out there, too.  There are lots of dogs barking all the time, especially at night.

            I would like to check out the kitchen, but when I am allowed out for a few minutes, the kitchen door is always closed.  I know it’s the kitchen, because I can smell food in there.  Miss Patchy doesn’t seem to care a lot, because she sleeps most of the time.  When we do go out of our rooms, most of the other doors are closed to us, so we really can’t explore at all.  I’m so bored in those two rooms.  I know every little tiny place and everything that is in them.  I have looked out the back window and the side window uncountable times.  There’s really nothing much to see out the side window, except for a wall and, occasionally, Little Bit or one of her friends as they walk through there.  Where will Little Bit live in the cold weather?  Mom says it will get very cold here.  Then I will be glad to be in these two rooms instead of outside with the outside cats.

            Well, I’m getting sleepy from boredom, and there’s nothing much to play with.  I can’t find ribbon, and Mom says that Dad’s mother doesn’t like my squeaky mice because they scare her.  She thinks they’re real when she first sees them.  She doesn’t like mice, I guess.  That’s too bad, because Miss Patchy says they taste pretty good.  Oh well, I guess there’s no accounting for tastes.

            I will take a nap and try to find something to play with later.  If I take a nice, long nap now, I can be awake when Mom is sleeping and maybe I can get her to play with me then.

Regards,

Mina

A New Place

            I can’t seem to nap very well, but I did sleep last night.  I’m tired though, and a little scared.

            Well, it actually does exist!  We came to the new place to live yesterday.  I’m still a little afraid of it and its strange noises and lots of human voices, but Mom says I will get used to it.  Dad’s mother comes here during the day, and I don’t like that, but at least we can get away from her and hide.  Mom fed us before she left, but she was here for quite a while after she fed us and then I was very hungry.  They came this morning, but it was pretty late, and I was half starved.  Mina always has her dry food in the dish, so she almost never gets hungry.

            Mom and Dad found us in the basement this morning.  It is cooler down there, but they were upset because our paws were so dirty.  Why all this concern over dirty paws?  I will get them clean.  Why isn’t the basement clean, anyway?  I don’t get it.  My paws would stay very clean if the basement was clean.  However, they say they don’t want us in the basement.  I don’t know why.  It’s a very interesting place.  There are lots of things down there that smell very familiar, lots of boxes with stuff in them.  They smell like Mom, so I like it there.  Mom comes down to the basement and does stuff with the things in the boxes.  I like it that she is there, as it is very comforting.

            Besides Mom, Dad, and Dad’s mother, there is another person here.  I think Mom and Dad said that he is Dad’s nephew.  He seems okay, but I’m just not sure yet.  Mom gets upset because I hiss at her, but all this is just so new and frightening.  Mom says that later on Dad, Mina, and I will fly back home.  There is that silly delusion about flying!  We still have no wings!  Very strange ideas that humans get into their heads!

            Dad took me upstairs to eat breakfast, but I didn’t feel all that hungry.  I ate a little and then went back to the basement.  I saw Dad’s mother on the way down, and I almost turned around to go back up.  However, she just stayed on the couch and didn’t wave any cloth at me, so I eventually continued on down to the basement.  There is a door to go outside on the way down, but I don’t think I want to go out.  We heard dogs last night, and I think they are always right outside the door.

            We found the litter box.  Of course, yesterday Mom let us out of the carrier right by it, so it wasn’t too hard to find.  It’s good to have all the comforts of home; I just wish we were really home.  Mom says we will go home – I can hardly wait!  Where we are living now is called Office.  That seems odd to me, because in the house called Phoenix, we had a room called Office.  Mom kept her computer and stuff in that room.  There is a computer here, but other rooms, too.  It’s confusing.  In one room, there is a big couch and a closet thing, but not much else other than bags and boxes.  When we go upstairs from there, there is a sort of bathroom.  Mina says that she thinks she could use that instead of going down to the litter box, but I don’t know.  There is a big hole in the floor and I could slip.  Lots of water in that room, too.  The room where I hide is sort of like part of a kitchen.  There is what looks like a counter top, a funny round sink, and some cabinets.  Then there is another room where there is a refrigerator and some cabinets.  There are some windows in that room, but they are up high.  Mina will be able to get up there, but I don’t think I will be able to.  There is also a window in the couch room.  That one I can see out of.  The door downstairs from there was covered from the outside, so we couldn’t see out at all.  This is a pretty strange place.

            In the big couch room, there is something that looks like a chair lying on its back.  I’m not sure why it would be like that.  It’s much easier to sit on when it is standing up.  I don’t think that Mina and I can set it up, so we will have to wait and see if Dad or Mom will do it.  I think it would be nice to lie on.

            Well, Mina is back behind the cabinets in the part-kitchen room.  She can get out on her own, so no one is worried about her.  I’m sure I couldn’t even get down into that space, let alone get out, so I’m not even going to try.  Lying in the cabinet is good enough for me.

            I think it is time to take a nap.  I got tired eating and coming back down to the basement, so I need this nap.

Yours,

Apache

Why Are We Still in Prison?

            I can’t find Mousey anywhere.  Mom says that he was totally bald, but he was still fun to play with.  He is probably just hiding somewhere.  I’ll have to look around some more.  At least Ribbon is still here and full of fun.

            Mom says that soon we will be in a better place to live and will have plenty of room to run and play.  That’s good, but she keeps saying that, and it keeps being a lot longer than soon.

             I have found a new place to hide when Mom and Dad are gone.  Dad’s mother keeps coming into the room when they are gone and she keeps waving a cloth at me.  I am very scared of her, since she doesn’t know how to talk, she just makes noises with her mouth.  Dad seems to know what those noises mean, though, and he can make those same noises.  Anyway, I have found a way to get up under not just the blanket, but under the memory foam mattress, too.  The first time I hid there, Mom came in and couldn’t find me.  She called and called, and Dad was afraid that his mother had let me get out, but Mom finally found me.  I don’t know how she does that.  How can she know that I am under the covers or the mattress?  It’s a puzzle to me.  I know she can’t see me, and I can’t see her.  I’ll have to think a lot about that.

            I have been going “stir crazy,” at least that’s what Mom calls it.  I just can’t get up much speed running in two rooms.  I hope there will be more rooms in the new place, if we ever get there.  I’m beginning to think that it doesn’t actually exist and that Mom is just making it up to make us feel better.  That would be cruel, I think.

            I saw one of the outside felines the other day.  How lucky they are to be able to run around anywhere they want, with no one to put them in prison or tell them stories of another place that probably doesn’t even exist.  If Mom wasn’t so good to us, I think I would seriously try to get out and join the outside felines.  They are all small, so I don’t think I would have a problem with them.

            I have learned how the doors open.  There are handles that I can grab hold of.  I tried to open the door a few nights ago, but Mom put a box in front of the door.  Mom told Dad that she doesn’t think I am heavy enough to actually pull all the way down on the handle.  Maybe I need to eat more!  Mom says she doesn’t want me to get out because there is mouse poison around.  Also, she says that Dad’s mother would have a fit because of my fur getting on stuff.

            A stranger came to visit the other day and, even though Dad’s mother doesn’t like us, she brought the visitor in to see us.  The visitor seemed nice, and Memmet [sic] was here, too.  I think I like him, as he is a lot like Dad.  I have allowed him to pet me a little bit.  Mom said that the visitor is Dad’s sister.  So, we have a brother, a sister, and a mother.  Are there more yet?  Too many people!  Miss Patchy does not seem to mind so much anymore if anyone comes into the room.  She is really getting old and forgetting how things should be.

            Well, I have to take a nap now so I will be up for some good playing later.

Regards,

Mina

Just We Two - What Have We Done Wrong?

I have played quite a bit lately, as I am getting used to this place.  There’s not much room to play, but every now and then I can jump over Miss Patchy and sometimes somebody will help me to play with Ribbon.

Well, we are in prison.  No matter how you look at it, we are in prison.  That’s Miss Patchy’s conclusion, and I believe her.  Every time someone comes into the room or leaves the room, we are pushed aside, or told “No!,” and the human goes out quickly and shuts the door on us.  I’m not sure why we are in prison, but it’s not a lot of fun.  There are no bars, like you see on TV, but we are in prison, just the same.  I so much want to explore the rest of this house, and I did a little bit the day I hid in the attic, but since that day, we are not allowed out of our cell, I mean our rooms.  At least we have good food and water, litter box, and Mom to snuggle with at night and sometimes during the day, but it is still prison.  At least at home we could go out on the patio and watch the buzz birds and bugs, and smell the fresh air, and feel the sunshine on our bodies.  I always rolled on the cement as soon as I could get out the door.  Mom would always get a little mad, because she said I got dust all over my fur.  Who cares about a little dust?  Well, I guess Mom does.

What I need is some place to run.  I’m afraid my legs will get stiff or something if I don’t get to have a good run pretty soon.  Mom says that soon we will have plenty of room to run, but I have my doubts about that.  She keeps promising.  I think we will be stuck here for the rest of our lives.  We do have windows, but most of them just show us a wall.  One window shows us the back wall, a little place with some holes that are covered up (Mom says it’s called a tandir) with a little roof over it, some dead grass beyond the wall, and some other houses.  There are some birds flying around sometimes, and once in a while we can see a human.  We also hear some funny bird sounds.  Mom says they are roosters crowing, and hens cackling.  You could not prove it by me, because I don’t know what that is.  Mom says that they are chickens.  (Why not just say chickens?)  That makes Miss Patchy happy, because she loves chicken.  I don’t know what she would do with a noisy one, though.  If it is alive, wouldn’t it fight with Miss Patchy?  If you can live in a turkey, can you live in a chicken?  How big are they?

It would be nice, but very scary, to go outside.  There are a lot of strange humans, and we have heard other felines out there.  Sometimes the other felines have been in the house, because we have smelled them, especially in the basement and the attic.  I’m not sure why I like the attic so much, but it is warm and comforting somehow.

Another thing about this prison is that Mom’s computer is always here, so we have easy access to it when she’s not around.  Miss Patchy has learned how to get on the internet with Dad’s phone.  It isn’t always around, so we can’t go online all the time, but we can have fun playing games and writing stuff to publish online later.  Mom keeps the dirty clothes in here, too, as well as the detergent she uses to wash them.  After she washes the clothes, they smell like the outdoors.  Is the dryer outside?  There are a lot of things that Miss Patchy and I do not understand about this house, besides why we are kept in prison, but I guess it could be worse.  It is clean and dry and has lots of things from home.  I will try to like it here.

I hear mousey calling me to play, so I’d better go.  Miss Patchy is already asleep, since she got rid of a big hairball this morning, and her stomach was hurting her.  She’s better now, but she needs her nap.

Regards,

Mina

Just We Two - Are Things Getting Better?

Naps are my life right now.  That’s about all we can do, since we are stuck in two rooms.

               I must say, though, that things are getting better.  Even though we have just two rooms, the food is good – Dad cooked it, and the closet is comfortable.  Mom complains about fur on the suitcases, but why is that a problem?  Anyway, both Mina and I are feeling better about everything.  Even the litter is good.  It does not smell at all like the stuff we had at home.  It doesn’t smell at all, so I never feel bad about stepping in it.  There are no lumps or anything to get in the way.

               I have been feeling a lot better recently.  My legs do not hurt so much.  Mom says she is putting something in my food to help.  I guess it is working.  She put stuff in the food at home, but it did not work as well.  Dad said he paid a lot for it, so he is very glad it is working so well.

               There are other cats around.  We can smell them and sometimes hear them outside the windows.  A little while ago, Mina and I were allowed out of our rooms, and we explored.  Mom said we could go outside in the garden, but we didn’t feel very secure about that.  It was a hot day, so I went down into the basement.  It was very dark and cool there, and I could smell the other cats, but they weren’t there when I went down.  I stayed down for a while, and Mom was really mad when I came up.  She said I was very, very dirty and she made me take a shower.  Oh, how I hated that.  After the shower, she said I was still very dirty.  I don’t like her saying that.  I take great pride in my appearance.  She still says it, but also says that I am getting cleaner.

               Mina was gone all day and into the darkness.  Mom and Dad were calling for her all over.  They were afraid that she had panicked and run far away and was unable to find her way back.  Personally, I think it would be good riddance!  Anyway, they all were sitting at the table out front, on what Mom calls the front porch when evidently Mina showed her face.  Instead of the basement, she had spent all day in the attic.  It was dirty up there, too, but she didn’t have to take a shower.  Mom said she was dirty, but not as bad as I was.  I’ll bet!  The little sneak!  Because of the basement and the attic, we are no longer allowed out of our rooms, and we really don’t want to go out.  Too much happens then.

Mom tried to take me outside one day, but I got away and went up to the attic and got dusty.  She chased me out and down the stairs.  After that, the door was accidently left open, and Mina ran up to the attic.  Dad was angry, but he got her down pretty soon.  At least it’s quiet in our rooms and nothing bad happens.  We also haven’t been in the car for a long time, so that’s a good thing.

               Mina is feeling a lot better now.  She is eating more (actually, quite a lot), and she has been playing at night.  Last night, I did a little playing and explored up in the cupboard in Mom’s room.  She heard me jiggle the glass things and woke up.  She was blaming Mina until she turned on the light and saw that it was me.  I’m so glad I feel better.  It’s very possible that now I can do stuff and Mina will be blamed.  That sounds like fun!

               One thing that we don’t like here is the vacuum cleaner.  I thought the one at home was bad, but this one is very big and very loud.  I hate it when Mom or Dad uses it.  Mom says we keep getting fur and stuff on the rugs.  That’s it, blame us!  She gets stuff on the rug, too.  We aren’t the only ones.

               Today, I threw up on one of the rugs.  Just a little bit on the rug and a lot on the cardboard under our food dishes.  Dad cleaned it up.  He is very nice and does a lot of things for Mom, and she really appreciates it.

               Well, it’s still daylight, time for another nap.  I wouldn’t want to waste the daylight.  I also must get ready for the night!

Yours,

Apache