Today is the 1st of October. The nights are getting longer darker; and the days shorter and greyer. Soon it will be Halloween…
When it’s dark, you always notice the noises more. The things that crawl in the night, sneaking around while you sleep. The things that fight in your hallway, only to have vanished when you get up to investigate. The things that go bump in the night…
The things that go bump in the night in my house are usually the same things that wake me up far too early by scratching at the bed covers to try to dig me out of bed. They also lie on the bed and purr or wash noisily, or have happy feet on my chest, thus preventing me from sleeping.
One of them is black, synonymous with evil, witches and Halloween. He’s also a bit thick. He’s scared of plastic bags, which probably isn’t ideal in a demon’s sidekick.
When it’s dark, you always notice the noises more. The things that crawl in the night, sneaking around while you sleep. The things that fight in your hallway, only to have vanished when you get up to investigate. The things that go bump in the night…
The things that go bump in the night in my house are usually the same things that wake me up far too early by scratching at the bed covers to try to dig me out of bed. They also lie on the bed and purr or wash noisily, or have happy feet on my chest, thus preventing me from sleeping.
One of them is black, synonymous with evil, witches and Halloween. He’s also a bit thick. He’s scared of plastic bags, which probably isn’t ideal in a demon’s sidekick.
Satan's Little Helper
The force is strong in this one..
One of them is black and white, killer whale coloured, tall and skinny and far too clever. That one is the ruler of the house. That one knows exactly how to get his own way…
Does their presence prevent other, less desirable visitors? Well, spiders are given short shrift, but who know what else… Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Price’ is a heartbreaking take on that angle. Nor is his the only treatment that cats have received in literature. Tanith Lee’s ‘Thomas’ was inspiration for the lyrics I wrote for the Crimson Clocks song, also called ‘Thomas’. And we all remember Puss in Boots and the Cheshire Cat…
Gabriel King has an interesting take on cats as central characters in a series of books that just manage to stay the right side of twee. In Robin Hobb’s Farseer & Tawny Man series, a lead character can ‘talk’ of animals. The Cat is very much The Cat. As Kipling said, it walks by itself.
They’ve been gods. They’ve been demons. In the time of Mary I (Bloody Mary), cats were burned as a symbol of Protestant heresy. Elizabeth I had a wicker effigy of the pope filled with live cats burned at her coronation, as a symbol of Catholic heresy*. Ironically, it was the Black Death that saved the cat from extinction in the UK – their ability to control the pests that spread the disease, though by then their numbers were few. There is even a legend that they are descended from snakes – next time your cat is on your lap, hold back its ears and look at the shape of its head…
Does their presence prevent other, less desirable visitors? Well, spiders are given short shrift, but who know what else… Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Price’ is a heartbreaking take on that angle. Nor is his the only treatment that cats have received in literature. Tanith Lee’s ‘Thomas’ was inspiration for the lyrics I wrote for the Crimson Clocks song, also called ‘Thomas’. And we all remember Puss in Boots and the Cheshire Cat…
Gabriel King has an interesting take on cats as central characters in a series of books that just manage to stay the right side of twee. In Robin Hobb’s Farseer & Tawny Man series, a lead character can ‘talk’ of animals. The Cat is very much The Cat. As Kipling said, it walks by itself.
They’ve been gods. They’ve been demons. In the time of Mary I (Bloody Mary), cats were burned as a symbol of Protestant heresy. Elizabeth I had a wicker effigy of the pope filled with live cats burned at her coronation, as a symbol of Catholic heresy*. Ironically, it was the Black Death that saved the cat from extinction in the UK – their ability to control the pests that spread the disease, though by then their numbers were few. There is even a legend that they are descended from snakes – next time your cat is on your lap, hold back its ears and look at the shape of its head…
Take me to your feeder
Personally? I think they are probably aliens. Why else are they so bloody weird?
*Source: The Enchanted Cat, John Richard Stephens, 1990.
*Source: The Enchanted Cat, John Richard Stephens, 1990.
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