sigelphoenix

One evening, Sean was chatting with me as I got into bed, and he rested on his elbows, stomach down, on top of the covers. Just as he was about to sit up, Kershach sauntered over and stood on the center of his back.

Being kind, Sean didn't dump him off, but rather straightened to all fours, signalling to Kershach that he was getting up, and giving the cat a chance to jump off himself.

Being a cat, Kershach settled himself into loaf position on top of Sean's back.

And in the silence came thunderous purring.

***

Kershach loves to cuddle us in bed. When we settle down for sleep, he knows we'll stay in one place, so he takes full advantage of it as prime petting time. His favorite position is sprawled out between me and ratzeo, where we can both pet him at once. If one of us is lying on our back, however, he will lie down right on top of us, usually with his head down so it's directly on our shoulder or chest.

I'm sure it's his affection for us that prompts him to lie in unusual positions like this, instead of doing a typical cat loaf or C-shape. I also suspect that he knows that his mommy finds it heart-meltingly cute, and takes shameless advantage of it.

Some examples from the past week, in ascending order of Dora's-brain-goes-kersplut-with-cute:

1. I was lying on my back, so Kershach settled himself on my chest. He rested on his side, all four paws straight out, and laid his fuzzy little head on my cheek. T_T He's got one of the softest coats I've felt on a cat, so he was irresistably snorglable.

2. When we're hanging out around the apartment, Kershach will often stretch out on his back, front paws curled up, to ask for belly rubs. Last night, he did this while on top of me, while tucking his head under my chin. T___T

3. Soon after, Kershach ended up between ratzeo and me in the same belly-rub position, purring like an engine as he got belly rubs from both his humans. I sat up to look at him, and he looked up at me - paws up, head tilted to the side to rest against ratzeo's cheek. AUGH. T_____T

(By the way, #2 and 3 occurred at about 3:30 this morning. Of course, being the sucker that I am, I couldn't ignore him and stayed awake for awhile to pet him. This would by why I feel like a zombie this morning.)

***

Kershach love-love-loves Da Bird, and will always come when one of us wields it for him. He is also really hard on the toy, because when he "wins" he likes to drag it off and chew on his "prey." He's already chewed off all of the feathers, and when we got a refill part, he chewed off all three feathers within 24 hours. So rather than cycle through replacements, I decided to try using masking tape to hold the feathers in.

Anyway, I was refreshing the tape on the toy, which meant that I was in the kitchen, holding up the feathery bit. The cabinet where we put the masking tape is right above a wide counter about 4 feet tall, which separates the kitchen from the entry way. On the entry side of the counter is our D&D bookshelf, which means you can't stand flush with the counter.

(You can probably guess where this is headed.)

The apartment was relatively quiet during this, so when a sudden burst of scrabbling exploded in front of me, I damn near shat a brick. I looked up just in time to see Kershach, halfway over the edge of the counter on the bookshelf-side, clawing at the (thankfully sturdy) surface with a manic look in his eye as he attempted to hurl himself at the toy.

Then he tumbled back to the floor. When I saw him next, he acted as if nothing unusual had happened. I, being a good cat-mom, didn't mention it.