The continuing suffering of Luball the cat

March 16, 2008

When I was in Russia, one of the lessons I taught several times involved the following construction, “Fall is a time when...” “Halloween is a day when...” etc. Several of my students – quite independently – crafted the following sentence: “Spring is a time when cats cry.” They insisted that cats always cry in the spring, as that’s when they want babies. Well, Luball is continuing to support that claim. After writing my previous post, I managed to rig a contraption of plastic sheeting (the drop cloth from our paint party) and duct tape up over the bottom half of the windows, hoping that would allow me to keep the cats in while letting some fresh air in as well.

My plastic sheeting in the window idea...

Then, during my 20 minute break before my last class on Friday, four of my Korean students ran into my classroom to tell me that one of my cats was out in the street. Of course it was Luball – who else? While Bee and Gee took the plastic sheeting as a sign that they should cuddle up together on top of my wardrobe, Luball chewed through the plastic while I was in class and escaped into the great outdoors. Who knows how long she’d been out there. Luckily, my students helped me find her, as she was skulking around the neighboring courtyard (where I have seen a big orange tom...). It was actually quite amusing to me that after so many months in Korea – where nearly everyone I met hated cats – the four students who were enthusiastically helping me track my errant pussy were Korean... a minor plus to a relatively shitty situation.

Luball continues to prowl the house, searching in vain for a boy cat to satisfy her; she sounds absolutely miserable, but she’s driving me mad. Plus, I’ve given up on the plastic sheeting – at least until she’s fixed – so I’m barricaded inside with the heat blasting, sweltering away. Yuck. I just hope Luball doesn’t bring any kittens to this party.