Day 143: Greyson Needs a GPS System

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 143: Greyson Needs a GPS System

When we adopted Greyson as a kitten from a Toronto Cat Rescue foster mother, she was kind enough to provide us with his favorite food, his favorite blanket, and some toys. However, Greyson needed more than that.

As it turns out, this kitten is in desperate need of a helmet, knee pads, brake pads, an alarm clock, and bell. Anyone who has or ever had a kitten will immediately know what I’m getting at. For those who don’t catch on quick, allow me to explain …

A Helmet

Every cat lover knows that kittens are lively creatures. They run around, at full speed, oblivious to any consequences. In Greyson’s case, he frequently narrowly misses a wall, cabinet, chair, or another hard surface. We cringe when we see him running, often yelling “Greyson, look out!” or “Slow down!” He hasn’t smashed into anything yet, but at the rate he’s going, he’s an accident waiting for a place to happen.

Knee pads

Along with running, Greyson does a fair amount of jumping. Especially when going outside. Technically our living room has floor to ceiling windows, but that’s not quite true. The windows don’t reach the floor, but rather a five-inch step. To go outside we have to step over that low obstacle. For us, that’s no problem as we’re used to that raised step, but for Greyson – being a tiny kitten – it’s a hurdle he has to overcome every time he wants to go outside.

Greyson, being the racer that he is, he doesn’t step over the hurdle one paw at a time but takes a flying leap to get over it. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. When he miscalculates his jump, we hear his knees making contact with the step.

Sneakers

Now that you know that Greyson doesn’t just run but races, the reason why he needs brake pads should be obvious. When he’s in hot pursued of Halley, or Halley chases him, Greyson throws caution to the wind. As fast as his little legs will carry him, he runs from the balcony, via the kitchen and living room to the bedrooms and back again. During this sprint, he has to take a few corners and that’s where things go wrong. The fur on the bottom of his feet causes him to slip and slide, resulting in him losing his footing and ending up on his side or worse, taking a tumble.

Alarm clock

In case you’re wondering why a kitten needs an alarm clock, let me explain. When I go to work, I get up at 6:00 a.m., on the days that I’m not working I sleep in until between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. Greyson, who doesn’t know the difference between my working days and my non-working days seems to think that if I sleep later than 6:00 a.m. I’m gonna be late for work and so he’s made it his job to wake me up.

Shortly after 6:00 he starts giving me kisses and like I mentioned in a previous post, his kisses are not to be underestimated. https://underthetorontosun.blogspot.com/2018/09/day-141-update-on-greyson.html

Combine that with his loud purring and within minutes I’m wide awake. Something I do not appreciate.

Bell

Last but not least, Greyson needs a bell around his neck or paws. Every night, before I go to sleep, I check that all the cats are okay and last night I couldn’t find Greyson. I checked all the rooms twice and there was no sign of him. Getting more worried by the minute I looked in all the obvious and not so obvious places, even checked the balcony … nada. Now it’s not so difficult to find Halley, as she’s a white cat, but Greyson is a black/grey tabby … try finding that in the dark!

Getting desperate, I crouched down to look under the lounge chairs when suddenly I felt something tickling my cheek … whiskers. When I looked it was Greyson sitting next to me, crouched down too. He little face seemed to say … what are we looking for?

“Where did you come from?” I asked him. “I looked all over for you.”

See that’s where a bell would come in handy. Or even better, a GPS system. 

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