Well, the Little Lady surprised us the other day by breaking out into another language.
“Cat-ese.”
Catese
[kat-eez, -ees]
–noun1. the standard language of the domesticated carnivore, Felis domestica or F. catus.
2. a group of languages of the cat families, including but not limited to the “Meow” and purr of the domestic cat breeds, and the roar, growl, etc., of the wild carnivores of the family Felidae, as the lion, tiger, leopard or jaguar, etc.
3. any of the Cat languages, which vary among themselves to the point of mutual unintelligibility.
It seems our neighbor is the owner of a new kitten. A calico. A very loud, “meow-y” calico.
And, every chance she has, the Little Lady run to a our back fence and chats with this kitten.
The Little Lady: “Meow, meow, meow, my Mommy said I can’t have you in my house. Meow, meow, meow-sad.”
The Kitten: “MeeOW. MeeOW. MeeOW!”
The Little Lady: “Meow, meow-I know. She’s meow-mean. Meow, meow.”
The Kitten: “MeeOW! Hisssss.”
From the little snatches of conversations I overheard, I thought their talks, although full of talk about the Mean Mommy, were innocent.
Until . . .
I saw the Little Lady run from their usual rendezvous point and head over to our orange tree.
Where . . .
the kitten met her.
That sneaky, sneaky pair!
Had I only been fluent in Catese, I would have known what they were planning. I would have known the kitten was preparing an over-the-fence invasion of my yard.
Had I only known . . . I could have avoided this sadness a few minutes later.
Because, of course, the kitten had to be put back in her yard.
An act that broke the Little Lady’s heart.
Completely heartbroken. . . until a popsicle was placed in her hands.
And then, all was right with the world.
