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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Unlikely Coalition
Dan called. He has been babysitting Pork Chop for me and Pork Chop loves him. Porque will not let Dan out of her sight. As part of his business, Dan spends a serious time on the phone, pacing to and fro all over the house, barking and snarling at business wrong-doers, at those doing little and expecting to be well paid…people like that. Literally for hours/day, Dan’s on the phone shaking up his business. And one half inch from the back of his right foot, there’s Pork Chop, with him every single step of the way, saying, “Right! You tell’im, Dan. Bark your heart out. I’m here for you.”
Dan and Lydia have had a cat, Hoity, since before they were married eight years ago. Hoity is a charter member of the establishment. If any animal on-premises were to demand rights of ownership, that animal should be Hoity, a huge, beautiful all-black with green eyes cat. I was sure that this Porque-sitting venture would not work because of warfare between Hoity and the haughty Chihuahua. However, through the magic of Dan’s personality…or something…there has been no bloodshed. Hoity and Porque exist in a hissing, barking stand-off. This has gone on for two and a half weeks.
One other preliminary fact…Hoity’s food and water are in the laundry, a room with its own outside door, a door which includes a special anytime-access cat door. When Dan is in the laundry, Porkee waits in the doorway, shrieking and woofing but not entering. It’s part of the stand-off. Hoity has his spaces and Porque has hers and neither intrudes but both have plenty to bark and hiss.
OK. Now we get to the current events. Last night Dan went into the laundry to renew Hoity’s food and water and there was a raccoon eating the ‘old’ food out of Hoity’s dish. Hoity stood by hissing ineffectually. Meanwhile Porque, in the doorway, for once sided with Hoity and both raged abuse at the wild intruder but neither moved to score a point for the home team. The raccoon was not in the least concerned with Dan/Porque/Hoity. It ate all of the cat’s left over food and then exited through the cat door. Immediately Dan nailed the cat door shut with a piece of sheet metal.
At the beginning of summer I told Dan that if he succeeded in making peace between cat and dog, for his next act he might want to try walking on water. Hm…I don’t think we can give Dan the credit for last night’s coalition of opposities. Credit goes to that arrogant enemy of house pets, the raccoon. For a few minutes he managed to get Hoity and Pork Chop on the same side.
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