My mom’s cat, Sophie, appeared to be having a shitty day. Who knows why? She just wasn’t moving much. And it looked like her health was fine but she seemed to be displaying a higher than normal degree of who gives a fuck. I mean it just felt like she didn’t really care if we were around at all. There was this unusual level of apathy that emanated from her generally chipper aura, and it was clearly visible. She was hanging around, her mouth closed, rejecting all movement with a lackluster regard for anything human. Missing was the elegant stretching or paw kneading into surveyed repositioning with a quick glance into what you were holding in your hands. No rubbing against your leg. No tail grips to the calf. Every attempt to grab her attention was only met with a vacant stare of complete and utter disinterest.
Maybe she just wanted to take a day off. Maybe if she could speak English she would say, “You can’t spell the word vacation without cat.”
I don’t know.
My mother, like anyone with maternal tendencies, was aware of this sour mood, taking on a level of concern that I hadn’t witnessed since that childhood bout with the chicken pox that pocked me all up.
We offered Sophie some cat nip and she balked. I rubbed her favorite rattling toy mouse across her face and then tossed it across the room. Nothing. Then getting creative, I pulled out the stash of bubble mailers and rubbed them together DMSR style, which was ignored while looking the other way.
This was serious. My mother was ready to try anything.
So, when no one was looking, I snuck a pet dosage of tincture into Sophie’s high-priced organic food that isn’t as much fun as Fancy Feast, but healthier, I guess. And when she finally got hungry and meandered to the bowl, with her head down and fixed upon the meal, she munched and smacked, sometimes tilting her face, never looking up until the entirety of the ceramic surface had been licked dry.
Thirty minutes later, I could swear that for the first time in my life I witnessed a cat smile.
My mother studied me curiously assuming there must have been some shenanigans.
I came clean. Then she asked for a taste of my Cannabis derived CBD oil for the first time ever.
Our relationship is now better than ever before!
Hey Boomer, learn from your cat. They are Zen masters.
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