If it is at the expense of a human being then even better although their natural aloofness and inscrutability mean that any glee and joy is well concealed from their victims .
I come across cats on a regular basis in my working day, a lot of them. Most are just lounging about luxuriously on beds, sofa's or in a shaft of sunlight as it crosses a carpeted floor. Some are lurking about in backyards and gardens and I am never sure if they actually belong at that address and so always ask the home-owner if it is indeed their animal.
If I am at an empty house I do make sure that there is no chance of a cat sneaking in behind me. I have heard tales of neighbours reporting seeing a distressed feline face at a window of just such a vacated property and this has usually triggered all sorts of panic involving the police, RSPCA and other charitable organisations in a frantic rescue bid.
There has also been the odd case of a cat being found in a closed-up loft space with no apparent clues as to how it got there. The invitation of a fully deployed access ladder is just too much to bare for an inquisitive cat.
I do like cats although they do not agree with me and I have a strange allergy that developed after my own tabby died when I was young. This was my first experience of pet mortality and I took it quite badly. Any exposure to or contact with fine hairs, whether on a carpet, fabric furnishing or just airborne causes my eyes and nose to stream uncontrollably.
Psychologists would have many volumes to write on my symptons given that the cat, Bonnie, and I were inseparable for her short, fateful life. She would even sleep at my feet under the bed covers.
In my adult years we took in a cat from a family who could no longer cope. After a couple of weeks I was prescribed a Ventolin Inhaler because of a very adverse reaction. Under the ultimatum of "it is the cat, or me", I surprisingly won out for once, yeah!
There is something of a stand-off now, an unwritten agreement to co-exist, live and let live and all of that between me and the cat empire.
We do still have a bit of fun at each others expense.
The intense red beam of my laser measure is tantalising if noticed by kittens or even their seniors and it is quite entertaining, although perhaps a bit cruel to tease in this way.
I was however exposed to the full treatment by way of revenge just a couple of days ago.
I had just opened up the patio doors to the rear of a house when I saw a ginger haired cat spying on me over a boundary fence. It was one of those comedy moments that can be found on a hourly basis posted on the internet and receiving millions of views. I just managed to take a photo.
Retreating back into the kitchen I heard the distinctive "flick-flack" from a cat flat in the wall and there at my feet sat the ginger cat.
In order to maintain my health I ignored this approach and looked back out to the garden. There, sat on the paving slabs, preening itself was the ginger cat.
I had not heard the flap and was amazed at the ground speed of the creature to enable it to be some 5 metres away in no more than a millisecond or so it seemed.
I had, after all, a job to do and turned to make my way into another room. Something caught my eye in the doorway to the lounge, a ginger cat.
This was getting weird.
To be in that position was an impossibility given the distance, time elapsed and with no noise emitted from the only access in- that flap.
I was getting a bit freaked out at this stage.
I made my way upstairs only to find a ginger cat looking down at me from the step on the landing. It was a case of having to hide my incredulity and shock.
After inspecting the upstairs rooms I descended the stairs to fetch my ladders to access the loft space. There, in the garden again was the ginger cat. Thoughts of time travel, Star Trek type transportation and plain voodoo magic crossed my mind at the sight of yet another manifestation.
The cat flap announced the arrival of the animal into the house and when I turned to look at the visitor all became clear.
Sat together on the kitchen vinyl floor were two identical ginger cats. We looked at each other and I sensed a bit of a wry upturn in the stout, fine set whiskers of the pair as though they were savouring a scheming victory over those darned humans.
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