A Very Short Night...

by Laura, Milan, Italy

I have no idea how the weather is where you live but believe me, Milan is so hot that even only breathing makes you sweat.

The awful temperature does not help my depression, and I'm not exactly energetic in this period of the year. Actually I'm so depressed that I even had an argument with Dallas & Dynasty, but this is another story. But it must be said here that Dallas is very cross with me and he's doing a sit-in in my bathroom sink since Monday night, so that i have to brush my teeth in the tub.

Anyway. It was good, last night when I went to bed, to realize that the air was fresher. I was so tired that I even let Melly and Figaro play "kill each other" on my bed, which is normally absolutely forbidden. And I fell asleep like a stone around midnight.

3.30.

I feel a painful sting in my stomach. It's Melly crying and holding herself to me with all her claws and there's no way to detach her from me. Cuddles don't work, hugging her doesn't work, she wants to be sure she sticks to me. Luckily enough I have a very high pain treshold so I decide to keep sleeping. I try not to move, my skin is delicate and all I hope is that I don't bleed on the sheets I have changed just 3 days ago.

3.45.

I would like to sleep with my kitten's claws in my skin, but I can't... little Figaro suddenly goes crazy and starts jumping on me. I know that an awful day is expecting me in the office, and I wonder what I have done so awful in my previous life not to deserve a full night's sleep... I try to send Figaro out of my bed but i can't as whenever I move melly's claws go deeper in my flesh... so i stay there, almost fully awake, and wait for the nightmare to end... and I realize that the fresh wind of last night has turned into an awful storm. That's why the cats are crazy... sigh.

4.15.

The wind causes the bathroom's door to close. I hear the bang. Three seconds later, I hear Dallas crying desperately. I have told you that we are cross with eachother... so I decide not to open the door. The little bastard has been living in my bathroom sink for 24 hours and there has been no way to move him from there. So, as much as I'm concerned, he can stay there three more hours. I'm not getting up.

4.30.

Dallas is still yelling from the bathroom. Melly's claws are still in my stomach. Figaro is still jumping. Dynasty climbs on the bed and lightly paws my face. I open my eyes and look at her desperate face. Dynasty is not a cat lover. And she hates to be bothered during her beauty sleep. Her eyes tell me "please do something about this mess". Dynasty is so much like myself that she breaks my heart. And anyway, I'm completely awake. So I slowly detach Melly from myself (ouch!), I lift Figaro and let him jump on the other side of the bed, I get up and open the bathroom door. Dallas runs out, then he remembers about his sit-in and runs back to the sink. I decide that I will start cleaning up the house so that I don't have to do it tonight.

4.40.

I turn the TV on and sit on the sofa waiting for my coffee to reach a drinkable temperature. Melly comes purring on my lap. Figaro comes jumping all around us. Dynasty takes my place on the bed and tries to catch on some sleep. Dallas meows from the bathroom sink just to remind me that he is there and he's very cross with me.

6.40.

The alarm clock goes off. I turn my head just to realize that my neck hurts terribly. I have slept on the sofa. My coffee is cold. The storm is over. I have hundreds of bleeding holes in my stomach. Three hours to a meeting that would be terrible even after a night's sleep. Four lovely purring cats looking at me and expecting their breakfast. I slowly get up from the sofa repeating myself "I love cats, I love cats, I love cats, I love cats, I love cats...."

Editor's note:

• If you want to comment on this article, why not write direct to Laura?
• She will be pleased to hear from you!

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