I wake up around 9 am on a Wednesday in early May, and I’m feeling very rested. I’ve taken a few days off from writing, and from my website, genxchronicle.com. I also haven’t done Copper’s Corner in about a week. So it’s been nice. Even though I miss them, it’s just been nice to take a little break.
There’s a few things I want to get done today, including finishing a chapter of my memoir, A Generation X life. I also want to go to Astoria Park, in my neighborhood in Queens, because it’s a beautiful day.
Just as I’m starting to stress a little bit about what I’m going to do and what I want to get done, Copper walks into the bedroom. She saunters over to the front of the bed. I position myself over the corner of the bed, in the cool way that we worked out. I start petting her by leaning over the bed, and I pet her and pet her and pet her. I stroke her coat, her fur, her skin, whatever you want to call it, over and over and over. It’s so silky and smooth, it just relaxes me and sends a feeling of cool ice running through my veins in a great way. Then I massage her cheek a little bit, because I know that cats love their cheeks being massaged.
I continue petting her for another 10 to 15 minutes, and it’s now become a full-on lovefest. I’m just petting her and petting her and petting her, and she’s rubbing her cheek against my arm and hand. She’s letting me pet her coat over and over and over, and she’s just standing in front of me and accepting the love and giving it back to me. So it’s pretty amazing. After about 20 minutes I take a break, and I lie back down on my bed. Its 9:30 now, and I feel about as relaxed as I have in a very long time.
Copper really really really chilled me out. She’s just such a beautiful magical wonderful cat. I love her with all my heart. After relaxing for a few more minutes, I get up and shower, and shave, and get to the business of the day.
My plan is to finish the chapter of my memoir first, and then go to Astoria Park, but I’m feeling a bit of writer’s block, so I decide to go to Astoria Park first instead. I make the 22-minute walk to the park, past the field and the jogging track, and I lay down in the grass right under the Triboro Bridge.
It’s very comforting hearing the hum of the cars rushing over the bridge, and it’s not loud at all. In fact it’s kind of relaxing. It’s like the world’s engineering and machinery is humming along the way it should be, and it’s all working for you.
I spend the next two hours in Astoria Park looking up in the sky, looking at the Triborough Bridge, eating a ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce tomato and onion, mustard and mayo on an everything bagel, and generally relaxing and chilling out.
I head home around 4pm, get home at 4:30, and listen to some music for a while. Later in the evening I watch the Yankees Red Sox game. I never do get to finish the chapter of my memoir that I hope to do, but I’m feeling so relaxed after my time with Copper in the morning and my time in the park in the afternoon, that I just I feel like extending the break a little longer. I go back into the bedroom around 7:30pm because I’m getting bored of the baseball game, and Copper is in the bedroom chilling out.
I go back to my usual corner spot on the bed. She walks over, and I start petting her and petting her again and again and again. We do our usual dance routine, like partners who’ve known each other for a long time. She stands still while I pet her coat and fur and skin over and over and over again. I do her cheek too, and I pet her between the ears, and it’s just great. It’s really another love fest. Finally after about 10 minutes she walks away, and I go back into the living room to the return to the Yankees game.
But I want Copper to be with me. I don’t want this to be the end of our time together for the night. So I go into the kitchen and get some Dried Chicken Treats, which she absolutely loves and goes crazy for. The thing with Copper is, I have to invite her into the living room, or else she won’t come in by herself. It’s like she doesn’t feel worthy, or she’s afraid, because she lived in a cage in an animal shelter for 3 years before I adopted her. So she’s just not sure about love, and about bonding with another living being.
So I bring the Dried Chicken Treats into the bedroom, and I hold one up near her, and I say here Copper, here it is, go for it Copper, go for it. She still won’t eat from my hand though. Even though we’ve lived together for 7 months now, she’s still too afraid to eat from my hand.
Finally I put the chicken down in front of her, and then she goes for it. She grabs it in her jaws and runs to the back of the bedroom. At least she has a chicken treat, so I’m happy. But I really want her to eat out of my hand, that’s what I want.
I get another chicken treat and put it in the front of the bedroom, just by the entryway to the living room. Copper comes to the entryway, and pauses about two feet from the chicken treat,
She approaches the treat while I’m on the couch watching the baseball game in the living room, and then she stops about six inches away from it, and she looks up at me.
I say yes Copper, have the chicken Copper, it’s for you Copper, go for it Copper. She gets closer to the chicken treat, puts her head down like she’s going to take it in her mouth, but then stops, looks up, pauses, and looks at me again. I say yes Copper, go for it Copper, I love you Copper, you deserve it Copper. She looks at me one more time with a long gaze for about two seconds, and then she pounces. She grabs the chicken treat in her mouth and darts back into the far end of the bedroom. She’s now at least 15 feet away from me.
The whole thing is so crazy when you think about it. These Dried Chicken Treats bring out the animal in her, the wild animal, the Beast, the Tiger in her, which I also see when she flexes her jaw and shows me her fangs.
Because she’s domesticated, and she’s a cat, and we’ve bonded a lot, and we love each other very much. But make no mistake. She’s still a wild animal. Cats are wild, they always have been, and they always will be. That’s what makes them so great. We’ll see what happens next.
