Muffin Says "Hi!"
 

Cats, in the same manner of people, have commonplace ways of greeting: "Hello," "Hi," "How are you," and "Howdy" are the normal examples. For people, that is. Cats are generally content to raise their tail whenever passing another cat or an honored person.

That is a little too simple for Muffin.

Muffin enjoys complexities in which almost any other living creature would prefer to avoid. For instance, there's Muffin's dance of the hallway. Let a human enter one end of the hallway; let Muffin enter by the opposite end. Human shifts to the right, and Muffin moving faster moves directly opposite while picking up momentum. Human swings sharply in the opposite side of the hallway; Muffin follows suit. Human dodges to the extreme right, and Muffin in a whirl of superspeed leaps between human and minimal wallspace.

On good days, the hallway dance is a typical close call. On bad days there are wicked human-feline collisions. One doesn't know what ever to expect from Muffin.

Enter kitten George into the household. After two years, the otherwise totally shy Muffin is beginning to acknowledge his presence. Perhaps George wishes that Muffin didn't.

The following sequence are stills from a videotape. The beginning is, "Enter Muffin" (walking through the feline play area as designed by Cloudberry).
 
Enter Muffin

Muffin moves in strange and mysterious ways; generally she stays in the shadows when not basking in a sun spot. However, as this is one of her social days, Muffin raises her tail in feline greeting as she goes by George.
 
Raised tail of feline greeting

George (behind Muffin) observes her but sleepily, but Muffin is in a mischievous mood. She whirls around superfast while her paw goes in the air.
 
Muffin whirls

Muffin's paw crashes down not on George but right next to him. It sounds like a tennis racket whacking a ball.
 
Down comes the paw

George is now totally awake but quite befuddled: "What is going on? Muffin is supposed to be the quiet one?"

Muffin trots on her merry way, her tail curled in victory. She hopped up onto the chair in front of her and went to sleep, happy with her little "hello."
 
On her merry way

 


 
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