GREEN MOUSE, YELLOW SNAKE DAY
from I Love Cats Magazine a long time ago
“What kind of day is it?” my husband called to me as he crawled out of bed this morning. I opened the bedroom door that leads to the hallway and looked down. “It’s a Green Mouse-Yellow Snake day,” I said. Yesterday was a Pink Mouse Day and the day before, had been a Green Mouse-Pink Mouse Day. Tomorrow may bring Trouble, herself, to our door.
Trouble is our live-in feline forecaster and bearer of gifts every morning. Her propensity for gift-giving became apparent during the first week I brought her home from the animal shelter. Rubber bands began to mysteriously show up at our bedroom door, accompanied by prolonged hair-raising yowls and groans. Her attempts to impress us with her prowess as a huntress intensified when she received two catnip mice for Christmas that year, one pink, one green. About two months later, she took possession of a three-foot long fuzzy toy snake that she found in a box of abandoned toys in the basement. The early morning deliveries took on a new look.
Since Trouble’s hunting domain is limited to the inside of our house, she is creative with what she has available. Trouble brings new meaning to “it’s the thought that counts.” Since she has only three earthy possessions, she ceremoniously delivers one, two or all three in various combinations and configurations. Sometimes they are lined up side-by-side in front of our bedroom door. Other times, they are dropped along the hallway leading to the kitchen, like Hansel and Gretel’s crumbs.
Because the toy snake is three times her length and weighs more than the mice, the effort for her to drag it to our door is considerable. Consequently, we know that it is a very special day if it is worthy of the yellow snake. A fantastic day is a Jackpot Day, when all three toys plus Trouble are at our door.
Purring loudly, she sits behind her gifts with an expression of bemused benevolence. She obviously receives pleasure from the giving. There we are, two middle-aged humans, making a fuss over two well-worn catnip mice, one missing a tail, and a balding yellow fuzzy snake. That image alone has to tickle her feline funny bone. It is difficult not to attribute human motives to this gifting process, like showing appreciation, desiring to share, to impress, bribe, even showing love. In fact, I read once that a true gift should ignite something in the receiver-a sense of well-being.
Whatever prompts Trouble’s behavior, her gift to us is genuine. It is a pleasant way to start the day, with the receiving of her gifts. We smile, we laugh and we share a sense of being loved, remembered and cared for by another of God’s creatures.
If your doorway was not blessed by tokens of caring this morning, allow me to share our greeting from Trouble: “Have a Green Mouse-Yellow Snake Day!”
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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