The Wait

/ Jeff Cann

Every conversation is pretty much the same.

“Mao?” *
“Mao.”

“Meow?”
“Meow.”

“Mew?”
“Mew.”

This goes on as long as I want. Tommy loves to talk.

Typically, water is involved. He sits on the vanity at the edge of the sink, neck extended like a duck or a goose and rubs his head on the faucet, waiting for me to turn it on. When I do, he sticks his head under the stream and moves it around making sure he douses his entire head. Then he starts to drink.

Or he sits in the tub, erect posture, alert disposition. Looking at me, then the tap, then back at me. “Mao? Mao? Meow?.” Same deal: I turn it on, Tommy waterboards himself then settles in for a refreshing drink.

Tommy has a lot of charisma.

Our conversations used to bug Susan. Or maybe ‘bemuse’ is a better word. Whatever, they always elicited an eyeroll. But now she does it too. “Meow?” He’s hard to resist.

Last night, after dinner, still alert, purring, bumping his head against the faucet, he opened his mouth but nothing came out. Well, almost nothing. A whisper, a croak. Tommy lost his voice. He doesn’t seem to notice. The conversation goes on, but his half is mostly silent.

This can be a big deal or almost no problem at all. Possible diagnoses from Dr. Google, DVM run the gamut. A mild respiratory infection to a cancerous growth. My mind goes all the way. Saturday morning, four-thirty, I’m up, can’t sleep. Worried. The veterinarian office doesn’t open for hours. I flip open my laptop and wait.

* Right, Mao. Struggled with that one. How would you spell it?

20 thoughts on “The Wait”

  1. I have had a hard time before trying to make sounds into words. I think you got it right. Mao worked for me in the context of the others.
    I hope Tommy is okay. Maybe he spit out a hairball (I’ve heard cats do this but the one under my bed doesn’t seem to. OR there is great big gross pile of them under my bed that I don’t know about. Ew.) and has gone hoarse from the process. My fingers are crossed for you that the vet deems him all well and he is back talking to you under the water faucet.

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  3. He likes to get his head wet?? Shhh🤫don’t tell the other cats, they might laugh at him☹

    I also speak “cat”. Both Sophie and Diesel like to have a little chat in the evening.

    Does Tommy do the “mmrrow-ow-ow” question? I think that means “are you paying attention?”😹

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    • He’s great, except on weekend mornings when I sleep beyond the normal feeding time. He crawls under my bed and claws at the fabric on the bottom. It’s really effective at waking us up. Then I try to lure him out of the room so I can lock him out, but he knows all of my tricks. By the time I’ve finally gotten rid of him, I’m wide awake.

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