I woke up on a Thursday morning to an unusual sight. WaMu was draped over the side of a large blue bucket, apparently peering intently into the contents. The bucket was three quarters full of water. This, however, is not unusual. WaMu, as you all know, is a Hydrologist. The unusual thing about this display of acrobatics is not that he was capable of it either. It was that he was drinking water out of the bucket! It is not even that he is capable of drinking when suspended on his stomach that was surprising, but that he was drinking water at all! You see WaMu likes to experiment with water, but never actually drink it. What self respecting scientist munches on their samples?! Seriously, you people!
To understand this you need to flashback, oh about seven years or so, when WaMu had an emergency. Without going into the details, let me just say, it was the year when we discovered that cats don't have a thirst impulse and that their natural food usually gives them all the water they need. Long story short, we had to feed him a prescription diet that induced thirst.
Now, seven years later, gato numero dos (or if you prefer French: chat nombre deux) contracted the same condition. And if you are completely other-language-unfriendly: cat number two contracted the same condition. He was prescribed the same food, but by a different vet (in case you were interested).
So at this point you are going, "Big deal. So Cat 1 ate Cat 2's prescription, felt thirsty, drank water. Case closed!" Not so fast! Not so fast! Before you hit that back button on your browser or log in to your favorite social networking site, let me tell you (humbly of course) that you are wrong.
Strange things continued to happen throughout that eventful Thursday (yes, I am completely aware of what my life must seem like to you, if this is what I call an eventful day). Not only did Cat 1 and Cat 2 drink water, but Dog 1 (Diva, in case you have forgotten here is an intro) was also drinking copious amounts of water. They were in fact drinking from the same bowl (no surprises there, they are all lazy and prefer to drink/eat from the nearest bowl). But it took me a while to realize that they were sort of queuing for that bowl and going round robin, taking turns to drink out of it.
Now this, even you, my dear reader, must admit, was odd.
Even if WaMu had eaten Poli Saamiyaar's food, there is no earthly reason why this should make Diva drink gallons of water. So, I decided to investigate the matter more thoroughly. Like all shrewd detectives, I concluded that finding the scene of the crime was probably the first step towards solving it. Like everyone who has ever been owned by critters would know, this tends to somehow revolve around a source of food. This is what I found, when I waked into the room where their food is stored:
A bag of prescription food, shredded, a quarter of it already empty. And most importantly, lying on the floor, outside the closed closet in which it was stored. I turned around inquiringly at the brood following me. The Persons of Interest reacted thusly:
1. Suspect number 1, WaMu: looked up innocent like.
2. Suspect number 2, Poli Saamiyaar had the expression of "Oh I get food again". Not "Oh! I Get Food Again!! Whoopie!" but more Zen and Budhha like in its matter of factness.
3. Suspect number 3, Diva? Ah, Diva! She had that tell all guilty look, where she averts her eyes first and then looks askance and then licks her lips somewhat sheepishly.
That was pretty much enough interrogation to piece this Masterpiece Mystery together.
WaMu, the ever curious, need-to-know-what's-on-the-other-side-of-every-door kitty, opens the door, reaches for the bag and pushes it down. (Everyday I am thankful that he does not possess opposable thumbs!) Poli Samiyaar (who should also be named shredder par excellence) goes to work on the package. And Diva, the Vacuum Cleaner cleans up the spoils on the floor, while the other two eat straight out of the bag.
And your friendly author Sherlock Holmes solves one
Footnotes and Disclaimers:
- The title is an awkward reference to Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde. Just to tell you that I like to read books.
- I know neither Spanish nor French, but I like to pretend that I do anyway.
- Masterpiece Mystery is PBS's series on, well, masterpiece mysteries!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
No comments:
Post a Comment