I feel like my life had been turned into a Twilight Zone episode. So many strange things are occurring and I just can't wrap my confused head around it.
I hadn't seen Callie in days and was truly worried that something horrible had happened to her. Finally, I saw her this morning, sitting in her usual spot on the deck. I scooped out what was left in the can (which was nearly two-thirds of a large can) from the last time I saw her and went outside. As always, as soon as she heard the back door open, she got up and walked across the deck to the steps. And as always, she stopped at the top of the steps, looked back at me, then walked down the steps, meowing the whole way down. Then she stopped at the bottom, did a big stretch, and looked up at me telling her that I have her breakfast. Just like the last two times, as soon as she walked up to the second to top step, she stretched out her neck and began to eat out of the bowl, and eat, and eat, and eat. She no longer licks her food, but instead takes big bites; she was eating so fast that I was afraid that she'd choke. Then, as always, she left a few bites in the bowl and walked away, meowing all the way down the steps. She got to the bottom, did a huge stretch, meowed, rubbed against the railing post, groomed herself a bit, turned around, did another big stretch, then walked back up the steps on the right side. She walked past me and sat back in her corner, doing more grooming. I then picked up her bowl and walked towards her, trying to get her to finish her breakfast, but she decided that she was done and sprinted off. I walked after her and found her under the deck, rubbing herself on everything and meowing. I was finally able to get her to eat another little morsel before she wandered and disappeared into the woods.
When I got home from work tonight, the first thing I did was to look out the kitchen window to see if Callie was lying next to the shed. Sure enough, she was, so I quickly opened a new can of food and dished out more than two-thirds of it, then went into the bedroom to change my pants and out I went. As soon as I walked out onto the deck, I no longer saw her sitting next to the shed. When I got to the edge of the deck, I suddenly saw her about 4 feet away, hunkered down low but out in the open. As I was walking towards her, she began to meow, and the closer I got, the louder her meows got. When I got within 1.5 feet, I squatted down and showed her the bowl, and she immediately stood up and walked over to me. She loudly meowed a few times then went right to eating her dinner. She gobbled down her food so fast that, just like during breakfast, I was afraid that she was going to choke, and a couple of times she acted like she was. While Callie was eating, I suddenly saw a tiny black mouse where she had been hunkered down earlier. It was whole and looked like it was standing up, but wasn't moving, for the entire 8+ minutes that I was watching Callie eat. I even praised her for catching a mouse. After she was all done eating, she went back to the mouse and just like a freak of nature, the mouse stood up and ran off! That little bugger was never dead nor injured! It just sat there the whole time that Callie was eating dinner, waiting for her. She then proceeded to play cat&mouse for the next 10+ minutes, and that wacky mouse kept running back to the same places where Callie could easily catch it. I felt like I was in the middle of a Tom & Jerry cartoon. After her little show (and yes, I truly believe she was showing me her natural predatory abilities), she came walking back towards me and plopped herself down on the ground, rolling back and forth and even exposing her belly. Seeing how playful she was behaving, I decided to try my luck and reached out my hand and said, "Come here." Just as I was going to bring my hand back, the little miracle that I'd been waiting for happened. She stood up, walked over to me, and rubbed her head on my hand.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Not only did she rub on me, but she also allowed me to pet her! I petted and scratched her head and back, and she was pushing against me while I was petting her. Then she went back to the little patch of ground that she was rolling on earlier and rolled again, then got up and walked back to me and allowed me to pet her again. I even got to rub her chin! Then, as fast as it started, it was over because she suddenly heard something rustling in the brush and took off chasing it. This chase didn't last long, and she walked back towards me, grabbed a few last bites of food from my fingers, then walked into the woods.
After my cloud 9 glory, I went to care for my scaley babies. I had to pick up Pookie and place him on his ladder in order to clean up his poop and wash off the acrylic stand that his tree branch sits on. Normally, Pookie would take this opportunity to jump down and visit Squirt or the girls, but tonight, he impatiently sat on the ladder and gave me a few stink eyes while I cleaned his house. I think he even gave me a few mini head bobs. When everything was cleaned and put back, he looked everything over to ensure that I put it all back just right, then to my surprise, he jumped back in.
Seconds after his lights turned off, Pookie walked off of his couch and around to the other side of his house. But instead of snuggling up to the hippo, he kept bumping the acrylic stand, as if he was upset that he couldn't go through it. I finally told him to go lie down on his mattress, because that's what it's there for, and go night night there, that he'll be more comfy. I walked away to do something else and when I got back a few minutes later, I found him curled up on one end of his mattress and not looking very comfy. Of course, I had to tell him that he was supposed to stretch himself out on it, not curled up in a ball in the corner. He gave me a glare and closed his eyes again. After awhile, I went back to check on him and he had moved a little more onto the mattress, but not completely flat out. Eh, close enough
Gotta love my Pookie <3
