CatDate 26112018

Minx’s Diary

Day Thirty-One

The hard-air portal in the sanitation chamber opened today! The female native was inside it. Possibly she transported from another location that made her lose her outer covering, for her nearly-hairless frame was on full display. Also, she was wet all over. She spoke to us in that high-pitched semblance of our language, sounding encouraging, but without real meaning. I cherish hopes that someday she can begin to pick up vocabulary and, Bast willing, grammar. In the meantime, we understand most of what she intends, thanks to energetic gesturing.

The chamber has interested us greatly. They say dogs rush in where cats fear to tread. Marmalade must have been channeling some dog, because she squeezed in past the female and began to look around. I have seldom been afraid to investigate anything, anywhere, but I must say I was daunted by the quantity of water on the floor of the rectangular chamber. Still, I was reluctant, since I had spent all morning doing my tail. In the end, I mustered the courage. Otherwise, I would have endangered my Junior Fluff Scout status, and nothing would compel me to shame myself before the kindle gathering (even though who knows when we will be able to attend another?). It was much taller than it was wide, and nicely warm. Marmalade decided to lounge upon the floor, wet as it was. I had to laugh when she rose up again, and shook one paw after another. All I had to do was wash my pads, and my tail remains undampened.

Athena surprised us both this morning. She has been venturing out more and speaking to us with less than the usual asperity. Today, she accosted the female and led her into the chamber where the nearly-hairless natives prepare their comestibles and store ours. The female, always pathetically glad to please, provided equal shares of the treat that smells like too-nah but was of a lotion-like consistency. I have sampled this treat before and attacked mine with gusto. Marmalade, for all that she is willing to lie upon wet floors, is still reluctant to eat soft food. I wonder if she will ever fully be able to leave the rules of the Pegasus sector behind her. I persuaded her to eat a few bites, but ended up finishing her share for her. I wouldn’t want the female to think that we weren’t appreciative of her efforts. A kind mew will always pay off later. But Athena wanted none of it. Clearly, she had something specific in mind. The female looked distraught, then had an inspiration. She raised a small cylindrical container that I remember from our days in the dormitory and a scissor-like tool. When she applied the latter to the former, I smelled a savor that we haven’t enjoyed for many nows, gote-meelk.

Athena could hardly wait until the female decanted small quantities for each of us into small bowls. She was so eager that she jumped up to drink hers on the edge of the sink. Marmalade, of course, hesitated, but she succumbed to the taste of home and took a few sips. I finished hers (I wonder about her appetite, I really do), but I did not dare investigate whether Athena had emptied her bowl. Afterwards, our grouchy senior was much more mellow, even sprawling on her pillow. I wonder if I can persuade the female to serve us some of this every day. I will certainly try.

Respectfully,

Minx “Exploration” Fawcett-Nye