Apricot Puts His Foot Down

Last night I saw the strangest thing.

After I play with the cats with a wand toy, I go to the end table that stands under the ceiling fan in the living room and turn the light off and ask if anyone wants a ride.

Most of the time, it's Thimble who comes running, leaps onto the table, and launches onto my shoulder. Sometimes he pauses, teasing me, on the table, wanting to be coaxed. And on rare occasions, someone else comes, sometimes Apricot, but most often Colby. Apricot doesn't like jumping so high for his (comparatively) short little legs.

And most of the time, when it's Thimble, he comes running before I even say anything, leaving me to say "anybody want a -ooph- ride?" as he hits my shoulder with all 16+ pounds.

Last night, Thimble sees me walking toward the table, putting the toy away as I do so, and he heads toward me at his usual half-run. He is so long that a full run brings him across the room too quickly and he'll slide off the table before getting a chance to change directions and leap onto my shoulder. No, he hasn't yet figured out that if he just goes from the floor to my shoulder, he could easily leap from the floor on the other side of the table to my shoulder. Please don't tell him.

Anyway, Apricot got in front of him, seemingly moving slowly but there he was. Thimble screeched to a halt without Apricot, half his size, ever saying or doing anything obvious.

The two of them then rotated in a half circle, moving so gracefully it was almost as if they simply were there in that position to begin with. Apricot touched noses with Thimble.

And Thimble bowed to him. I have no other way to describe it. His back legs moved back a step and his shoulders dipped low. Apricot gave him a look, as if to say, stay put, and then walked over to where I stood, spellbound, at the table.

He leaped gracefully up onto the table and gave me a look, a different look. It was rather satisfied and expectant. "My ride?"

I've been thinking about it, and I have come to a conclusion. I think with the times Thimble has been out of the crate all night, that Thimble was being a pain. And I think Apricot lost patience with him and decided that Thimble wasn't getting it all his own way.

This conclusion was reinforced by their behavior at their supper time (which follows playtime). Normally Thimble moves from bowl to bowl, pushing whatever cat was eating at that bowl aside. The other two simply moved to another bowl, since the same food was in all of them.

Not last night. Last night, after the food toss, Apricot came in when he heard the food pouring into the bowls and started eating. When Thimble made a move to come near--and to give him credit, he was heading toward a different bowl than Apricot was currently using, yet knowing Thimble, that wouldn't last--Apricot raised his head and gave Thimble a brief, mild, admonitory look.

Thimble stopped dead in his tracks and just stayed there, waiting, until Apricot finished eating and sauntered off, and only then did Thimble move in and start eating.

And where was Colby during this? Being an increasingly puzzled kitten. He tried to go eat, and Apricot gave him the same look, so he stopped too, but gave me a begging glance like, "mom, I'm not the one picking on everybody." So I put the crate food dish in front of him (I bring it in to fill it, and it's light and moves around anyway, thus hopefully wouldn't trigger Apricot's mild-mannered wrath) and he ate out of that quite happily ... still giving Apricot and Thimble puzzled looks every so often.