Day 47: Cats and their quirks

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 47: Cats and their quirks

Today is one of those rare days that I have nothing to do. No articles to write, no emails to answer, no research to do, and the prompt I’m supposed to write about doesn’t appeal to me. So, I’ll do what I always do when I’m short on inspiration … I write about my cat family, you could call them my four muses.

Right this moment, the fire alarm is being tested in my condo building. A series of sharp peep, peep, peep, sounds amounting to several decibels fit to pierce an eardrum.

While this is merely annoying for me, my cats are terrified of this noise. Charlotte is hiding under the duvet of my bed, Mickey is under the bed, Holly is more annoyed than scared that she can’t go to sleep, and Gabriel … well, Gabriel is Gabriel, he couldn’t care less. As far as Gabe is concerned, the fire alarm could be accompanied by an earthquake and a tornado and he wouldn’t care. As long as he has his basket it’s alright with him.

On the subject of sleeping … last night I came close to waking up Dieter. He was snoring again. Before I go any further, let me explain.

There was a time that Dieter snored every night, and by snoring, I mean SNORING. Several times a night, I had to get out of bed to go and wake him up because even with the door of his bedroom closed, the noise came through the walls to the point that it woke me out of a sound sleep.

He tried nose strips, I tried earplugs … nothing helped. Then I read that snoring is often caused by dry air in the bedroom. When I mentioned this to Dieter, he went and bought a humidifier. And low and behold, it worked. From day one, no more snoring. So, from then on, night after night Dieter switched on his humidifier and we were both able to get a good night sleep.

Until last night that is. Shortly after he’d gone to bed, I heard snoring. This surprised me because all these months he’d been so quiet. Did he perhaps forget to switch on his humidifier?

I was about to get up when I noticed that the snoring noise didn’t come from Dieter’s bedroom but from the armchair in the living room. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t Dieter who was snoring, it was Charlotte. Yes, believe it or not, Charlottes' snores resembled a chainsaw!

When I mentioned this to Dieter he nodded in agreement. He knows all too well that Charlotte snores. When she sleeps with him on the foot end of his bed, he frequently has to give her a nudge when her snoring gets too loud.

As for Mickey … Mick is a fairly relaxed cat. He's clearly tired today, but he hasn’t forgotten yesterday’s drama, so he’s a little hesitant about putting his head down. 

That leaves Holly … Holly’s pose says it all. As far as she’s concerned, yesterday's fire alarm testing technicians can kiss her butt.

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Day 40: Getting your driver’s license

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 40: Getting your driver’s license

Ever since I became a teenager I wanted to drive a car and I couldn’t wait for my 18^th birthday.

Dad promised that he would teach me to drive. As soon as I was legally allowed, I could take my place behind the wheel and he would take me on the road.

Unfortunately, two weeks before my 18^th birthday my parents bought a new car and while dad was still willing to teach me to drive, I chickened out. I would have been fine driving the old car, but this brand new one … no, no way. Suppose something happened to it.

The years passed and I was already well into my twenties when my ex-husband suddenly decided that it was time I learned how to drive. One fine Sunday afternoon we got into the car, he drove to a secluded spot, got out of the driver’s seat and suggested that I take his place.

In my hands, the car hopped rather than drove and for the next twenty minutes the only words coming out of my ex’s mouth were “Give gas, give gas, give gas!”

Once I had the starting and stopping down it was time to actually drive and I tell ya … I was terrified. 

For my fifth driving lesson, I was to drive us to a friend’s house and this usually 20-minute trip took me 45 minutes to complete. I drove at a snail pace and every time a car approached, I thought I was going to hit it. 

Upon arrival, my shirt was soaked with sweat.

Everything changed when September came around and I had to drive my son to school. Instead of driving only on Sundays, I had to drive every day, twice a day and that made all the difference. Within a week I was a confident driver.

Next, it was time to take my driver’s exam. I got full marks for the theory test, but the practical exam left much to be desired. My driving was fine, my three-point turn was fine, but where it came to parallel parking I flunked.

I had to wait two months before I could take the exam again, and again I flunked. That parallel parking didn’t agree with me. After another two month wait, I went back, on my birthday as it happened, and the driving instructor recognized me. 

Once again the parallel parking was a disaster, but this time I put up a fight.

“You seem very nervous,” the instructor said.

“It’s because of you,” I told him. “When I’m alone in the car or with my husband, my parking is just fine, but now that I have to prove this to you, it just doesn’t work.”

“Alright,” he said. “I’m gonna go get a coffee, you keep practicing.”

So I did. I practiced parallel parking on the right side and the left side of the road and each time it went perfectly.

When the instructor came back he told me to drive straight to the office. 

“What about my parallel parking that you told me to practice?” I asked him. 

“I’ve seen enough,” he said. “I’ve been watching you from behind the window and you’re more than qualified to get your license.”

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