I'm in a better mood now because of what just happened.


A few weeks ago I bought a soapstone cat at a garage sale. It is a
little statuette, about 9" high of carved black and white soapstone from
Kenya. I thought it attractive, and for 50 cents, who's to complain.
I'm not sure how much it looks like a cat as it is very stylized of a
seated cat but with the shape elongated and a face with large carved
eyes and stripes. I'd say any person would recognize that it's supposed
to be a cat, but wouldn't vouch for a dog making that stretch. For the
past few weeks, the soapstone cat has sat on a sideboard type piece of
furniture in the dining room along with other such items: the glass
egg, the crystal pyramid that refracts light, two decorative plates, the
beautiful cocoa set Jim got from his aunt, a plaster flamingo, etc.


Tonight as I was on the computer and Jim reading in the bedroom, Cubbe
started to bark her low bark. There were growls interspersed. At first
I assumed there was someone outside and that she was barking out the
window, but when it didn't subside after a minute, I got up to look.
She was barking at the sideboard. Bark bark bark, run around the table,
bark, wag, growl, bark bark. I thought Jim would be interested. I
promised Cubbe I would protect her from whatever it was. I knelt to
inspect under the sideboard to see if a critter was around. I checked
walls. Cubbe is not a neurotic barker. I might not understand what
she's barking at, but she always has a good reason, one that makes sense
to her.


After a moment of not knowing what it could be and seeing her barking in
one direction only, I picked up the soapstone cat, and sure enough,
Cubbe backed away from it. I put it in my hand for her to inspect. It
was a repeat of the time she found a ceramic turtle in a neighbor's
yard. She approached, sniffed, ran back, turned, barked a little more.
I placed it on the floor so she could inspect at her own pace. To say
that the thing is lifeless is an exaggeration. The thing is soapstone!
And it doesn't even look much like a real cat.


Cubbe is now hiding under the futon. I believe she's embarrassed.


--Lia