Daffodil Fever

by Beverley, Napier, New Zealand

The cat has been in high gear lately and has a bad dose of daffodil fever. He is now busy with the late daffodils. The poor little yellow things lead miserable lives. Their existence is so short they must object to being sniffed, nibbled and rolled on. When I was dead-heading again in my garden yesterday Ollie launched another 'back attack'. - no mucking around with that cat, he went straight to the top and hung there. I did try the advice offered to me on an earlier posting to the newsgroup . I gritted my teeth against the pain and straightened up. Forget it. He easily straightened up with me and simply extended his claws to their full capacity - the back claws were extended too, just to give him more stability. To add insult to injury he began purring. He showed no signs of tiring but I did. I fell to the ground and performed 'the roll'.

I was rubbing my sore shoulder and glaring at the cat when the man walked up my drive. I have never seen anything more scruffy and evil-looking. "I wanna get a taxi into town" he droned, "you gotta phone?"

I froze. Normally people like that are spoken to through a secured screen door. They are never let inside whatever the reason. Home invasion and murder is rife in this country at the moment. I'd have been mad to let him in but he stood firmly in my escape route inside through the back door. I opened my mouth to tell him the feeble excuse that the phone was out of order when Ollie struck. He ran up the man and hung from his shoulders.

It was a wonderful sight. The man performed like a bucking bronco. His piercing scream rent the air. Ollie loved it. He rode the man across the lawn and down the drive. It was the ride of a lifetime. Talk about an Olympian - he's have won first prize. I swear that if Ollie had been wearing a hat he'd have been waving it while clinging on with the other three legs.

I followed as the pair turned out of the drive and down the street. The man was still screaming horribly. Ollie dropped neatly to the ground at the corner of the street but the man kept running. He didn't need a taxi. I reckon he'd have hit town in no time.

The cat had had a marvellous time. When he arrived back he was breathless and still in climbing mode. He put his head on one side and eyed my back. But I was ready for him and shot inside. Scaring off would-be muggers was all very well but I'd had enough of daffodil fever.

Editor's note:

This article first appeared [as do nearly all the Bev ones on my Storypage] in the newsgroup rec.pets.cats.anecdotes

• If you want to comment on this article, why not write direct to Beverley?
• She will be pleased to hear from you!
• If you want to see what Ollie looks like then click here!

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