Random fact about me: I am afraid of cats.
This does not mean that I will not be in the same room with a cat or that I will not pet a cat. It just means that I believe that every cat I come into contact with is trying to figure out how to kill me.
One time? When I was staying the night at my friend’s house? Her cat sneaked into bed with me and when I opened my eyes, he was sitting right near my face, just staring at me. I was frozen with fear. I cried out from the bed. “LEEEEEEENA! HELP MEEEEEEE!” Lena didn’t hear me, so I just laid there, as still as could be, pleading with the cat not to scratch my eyes out.
Tonight, Tony, Gabby and I went for a walk to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood.
“Mommy, would you be afraid if you were walking alone in the dark right now?” Gabby asked as we were walking.
“I probably would be because I’d be afraid of the coyotes.”
Right after I said that, I saw a black figure in the distance walking towards us. “What the hell is that?” I asked Tony. And then I heard it.
“Meow.”
There was a cat and it was walking towards us while meowing in what I perceived to be an aggressive manner.
It kept coming towards us while meowing.
I looked over at Tony.
“Why is it meowing? And why is it walking directly towards us?!” I asked.
“It’s not going to bother us. Just keep walking.”
As we made our way past the cat and up the street, it continued to follow us as we walked.
Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow.
Gabby grabbed my hand and said “Okay, Mommy. I’m starting to get really freaked out.”
I didn’t want my daughter to be as terrified as I was, so I turned to her and said “He’s probably just lonely, or really hungry.”
“Yeah.” She said. “FOR OUR FLESH.”
My daughter, she knows the truth about the cats. She knows.