| *Kelda Khronicles* |
 |
| I Wasn't Gonna Eat Her! |
| A frantic scream of ‘Kelda!’ comes from the kitchen. I rush to see what’s going on. My brother in law beats me there. Kelda has already fled the scene of the crime, though I can still see her at the top of the stairs. She looks at me with her round yellow eyes so innocently. I know that expression well. It means, in Kelda speak, ‘What? ME scolded? NEVER! I’m too cute and besides, I wasn’t going to eat her!’ I see the rats on the table as my niece feverishly explains to us that Kelda was on the table about to swat Willow. I can understand why Kelda would do such a thing. She’s a cat, after all and Willow is a rodent. Willow is also highly active. She can’t seem to stay still. This is a trait especially attractive to Kelda. She loves to play with anything that moves which includes little gray rats named Willow. My niece cleans the rat cage twice a week. Each time we go through the same scenario. My niece leaves the rats on the table then leaves the room for some reason. Kelda takes advantage, hops on the table and proceeds to chase Willow. You’d think my niece would catch on to this game of cat and mouse. Why only Willow? There are two other rats to chase. It’s simple, really. Willow is the only one who runs from Kelda. The other rats know that if they stay still, they won’t be bothered. At times, I wonder if Willow likes to be chased or if Willow is just a slow learner. Whatever the case, Kelda is quite taken with this hyper active rat. This fact disturbs my oldest niece and owner of Willow. I can empathize with that. I wouldn’t want my pet to become cat food. Would Kelda go so far as to eat Willow? I don’t think she would, but I don’t want to test my theory. My niece would never forgive Kelda or me if Willow became cat food. In Kelda’s short life of 3 years, I have never once seen her eat any living thing except for a spider. I don’t mind her eating spiders because we live in the country. We have more spiders than we know what do with. She must think them a tasty treat because you can very often find her licking the spiders, web and all, off the walls. Kelda saves us in extermination fees. Kelda has play-dates with her cat friend, Rumealia, who lives down the street. Rumealia has mice in her house. (Another plus about living in the country) Rumealia loves to play with the mice before she eats them. If Kelda is visiting, Rumealia will bring Kelda a mouse to play with. Kelda plays with the mouse until she gets bored. Then she moves on to chasing her friend through the house. Or Rumealia gets tired of watching Kelda play with the poor mouse and kills it herself. Kelda never does kill the mouse. I’m not sure if it’s because she has no inclination to do so or that she just doesn’t know how to go about it. Perhaps it’s both a lack of desire and know-how. She’s had ample opportunity to kill many kinds of animals that cats like to kill and eat. Kelda hasn’t thus far. I hope for my niece’s sake she never does. I also hope I’m not really lying when I tell my niece that Kelda wouldn’t dream of eating Willow. I’m airing on the side of caution. I insist to my niece not to leave the cat and the rats unmonitored on cage cleaning days. That innocent look from Kelda doesn’t fool me. The only time I get that sugar sweet look from Saint Kelda is when she’s done something she’s not supposed to. She knows she’s not allowed on the table. I know she knows that rat chasing is not allowed. I can only hope she knows rat consumption is against house rules too. |