MindSpinner

The cat posts himself by the window and requires that the miniblinds be raised at least 6″. When a robin lands on the front lawn or a cottontail nibbles, hopping and pretending to be garden statuary by turns, a creaky meow wells up in him, and he is all aquiver. He can enjoy the outdoors directly only in spring because come the end of May he is afflicted with severe allergies that will make him asthmatic and nauseous. Then, when the door is open, we have to block his attempted escape into the wide, wide world with a foot and give him a pill every night.

The past couple of months he’s enjoyed his forays outside, and he’s particularly relished territorial negotiations with the neighbor’s oversized puppy. Sometimes, though, he gets in over his head - not with the dog, but with the other warm weather denizens of the cul de sac, the children. One Saturday recently I found him sitting on the porch, smelling fresh from a bath we hadn’t given him, sporting a new look - an uneven crew cut between his ears and across one shoulder. He’s growing it out.