She ambles around the coffee table, winding around the legs of it and curling her tail. Her big eyes spy me in the hallway and she stops. Her tail swishes as she watches me. She is always cautious and always curious. She blinks at me in that slow way that cats do to show acceptance and part of me breathes a sigh of relief. She is Tim's cat and she does so love to remind me of my place so to be loved by her in any way is a start.
I stoop down and hold out my hand to her. Her tail swishes again as she hunches down and stalks her way towards my outstretched palm. She nuzzles me and butts against my hand for me to stroke her. She is still now but her eyes are wide and her ears twitch. She hears something. A minute later I can hear the post fall through the letterbox. I can feel her relax under my hand.
"Hello cat," I say. I can never keep up with their names. This one is buttons, or boots or something. The cat doesn't know the difference though. She gives a half purr and rolls over on to her stomach. I know better than to pet her there after all the times she has latched her claws onto my wrists. She scares easily.
"Dinner," I suggest to her and she lifts her head up towards me. I imagine she is intelligent enough to understand the word dinner. She twists around and is on her feet, padding into the kitchen with me and hovering by her bowl whilst I fiddle with the tab on the can. The smell is vile but she is happily weaving between my legs as I scoop it into her dish. In her excitement and haste she chokes herself and makes loud rasping noises as she tries to swallow before she digs in again.
It feels wrong to watch this pile of meat watch another pile of meat simply because it is more domestic than the animals it eats. This cats only contribution to the world has either been through Schrodinger or forcing Tim to get out of bed to feed her.
I go back into the living room and switch on the television to find something interesting to watch and I settle for a period drama that I assume is based on something by Dickens. Tim will no doubt be out for the night and I don't know what else to do with myself. I smooth my thumb over my ring and make myself comfortable on the settee.