3:30 wake up call

i'm not really a "cat-person." before i get started, i'd just like to take a second to say that i try judge animals on an animal-to-animal basis. i feel it unfair to judge an entire species based on a lovable or even loathable family pet. thus, i'm not really a "dog-person" either.

there are both dogs and cats i'd like to be guilty of "dropkicking off of a porch and killing it," to quote a favorite prayer of forgiveness for the uncle of a girl that went to our church when i was a kid. on the more humane side, there are animals i do enjoy and, on occasion, like to pet. the past few nights, the family cat has been the former (one i'd like to kick).

it has become silas' pattern to migrate to my room in the wee hours of night to sleep on my window sill. i suppose he likes the view. it is usually a quiet affair.

however, the past two nights at roughly 3:30 am another cat has found it enjoyable to sit directly in front of my window, causing silas to freak out.

i have been awakened to the ambulance-like cry of this awful beast, accompanied by the completely unsoothing sound of him hissing like a cappuccino machine. if there was ever a time for me to be violent, it is at this early hour.

the first night, it lasted for 20 minutes. i tried so many things to get him to stop. i even closed the blind. this only made it louder, with a higher level of freaking out than i've ever heard from a living being. i finally had to go chase away the neighboring hell spawn of a cat, in my dickensian nighttime attire (robe, sleeping cap, slippers and candle).

to my relief, this brought peace back to my slumber. last night, i just started with chasing away the other cat. my great concern, is that this could become routine- every night at 3:30, waking up to chase away a cat. my great relief is that i won't really have to deal with it. i will not be living there much longer and will have no pet in portland, nothing to wake me up in the middle of the night except my own hopes and fears.

thus, i won't need the classic prayer that young girl offered up. i will kick no cat off of the porch, killing it. though it is possible i will kick a certain cat off of my bed, as gently as possible.