The marvelous toy

Abishag had a firm conviction that no better toy existed for a cat than some used, scrunched, brown packing papers.

“Just look at the advantages of packing paper. You can pretend there’s another cat hidden somewhere in the folds. You can pounce on the paper, roll on top of it and shred it with your teeth and claws – and never hear a whimper, or a shocked comment from a hooman about playing too rough.”

I never thought about all that. Abishag could probably be considered an authority on packing papers. She’d certainly trounced enough sets of them through the years. She could really surprise you with her inventiveness. Some more examples of her thinking:

“You can let kittens learn to pounce with packing papers. And the papers generally have unusual smells on them, which is enough to entice any feline, myself included. I also like to hide myself in them for some ‘me’ time. Hoomans are very nosy. They want to know what you’re doing, where you are and if you’re doing something they don’t want you to do, you’re supposed to stop doing it immediately. So I go hide in my packing papers and meditate or think about my next book or why I should smack my brother.”

I wonder if beating up packing papers would help hoomans relax, unwind, get rid of tension and aggressions …maybe we should all try it, at least once. It wouldn’t be the first time a little plump black cat was a spot-on therapist for a hooman.

#Abishag