The cat and the door

Noel had spent the past half hour racing up and down the steps, stopping only briefly to loudly meow at the door leading to the garage. Cam had been trying to play word games and relax over his morning cup of coffee, but finally rose from his chair and figured it was time to investigate.

“Noel, buddy, what on Earth’s the problem?” asked Cam, easing down to sit on the top step while carefully placing his cup on the hardwood floor. “Come here, big fella … tell me all about it.”

The gray and white feline galloped up the steps and butted his head against Cam’s knee, rolling over to expose his belly – briefly – before charging back down. This time he stood up on his hind legs and pushed on the door with his front paws, chirruping the whole time.

“OK, OK,” Cam said. “What’s say me and you check things out, huh? Is that what you want to do? Maybe there’s a chipmunk down there, or even a squirrel. I guess either one could get in while I’m raising or lowering the garage door. Of course, if it’s another cat, well … I don’t want to get in the middle of a fight.”

Cam slowly opened the door and flipped on the light switch. He paused for a moment in an effort to detect any strange sounds, but there were none. Oh, the humidifier was humming away as usual, but that was completely normal. His Honda Accord was parked in its usual spot, the work bench was cluttered with some of his wood burning efforts, and the shelves on the side of the garage were packed with everything from Christmas and Halloween decorations to old kitchen appliances and lamps.

Cam carefully eyed the area and saw no signs of animal activity. If there were any present, they were doing a great job of hiding.

He assumed Noel had followed him into the garage, but instead the cat was standing at the entrance, his tail standing straight up and slightly curved at the top. He was trilling and staring wide-eyed at … well, nothing.

The man walked back toward the stairwell, turned out the light, closed the door and locked it.

Noel looked at him and then fixed his stare on the door again.

“You critters are weird,” he said. “You’ve been carrying on all this time trying to get to whatever you think is out there, but then you’re too scared to find out for yourself. Why don’t you come up here and sit with me? You could probably use some more skitches.”

Cam made his way back up the stairs, reached down to pick up his cup, and returned to his chair in the den. He remembered a quote by Eleanor Farjeon – “It always gives me a shiver when I see a cat seeing what I can’t see”  – and smiled. Whatever Noel was seeing was apparently for cat’s eyes only.

Meanwhile, at another house …

Leon had spent the past half hour racing up and down the steps, stopping only briefly to loudly meow at the door leading to the garage. Mac had been trying to play word games and relax over his morning cup of coffee, but finally rose from his chair and figured it was time to investigate.

“Leon, buddy, what on Counter-Earth’s the problem?”