Sunday, September 27, 2009

And that's why I didn't get any writing done.

I opened up the Bell-Man document earlier and was finally starting to read over what I'd written the night before, when my cat Vincent started making mighty-hunter mews from the doorway.

Vincent is not a mighty hunter. All he knows about hunting is what Angel taught him--Angel was a damn fine mouser. I once saw Vincent pick up a mouse by its hind leg, and of course he got bitten. He looked offended at the mouse's audacity.

So anyway, Vincent tends to make mighty-hunter noises when he's caught anything. Once he caught a marshmallow I'd dropped on the kitchen floor and paraded it around the house proudly, which was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. So when I looked up and saw what looked like the curved edge of a ponytail holder sticking out of his mouth, I just smiled and told him what a good hunter he was.

Then I realized he didn't have a ponytail holder. He had a lizard.

It was one of those little fence skinks, I believe, the kind that shoot around like lightning and eat bugs. How it got into the house I do not know, and how Vincent caught it I simply can't imagine, unless it was trapped in the house and half-starved. I tried to get it away from Vincent without making Vincent bite down harder--ew ew ew--and it slithered away and disappeared. I mean, seriously, neither Vincent nor I saw it go. I know I didn't--and I was checking my pants cuffs thinking maybe it shot up one to hide--and I know Vincent didn't because he was literally checking his own paws and looking underneath him to see where it had gone.

I finally found the skink hiding under the bottom of a nearby curtain, which is long and drapes on the floor. I took Vincent outside for a few minutes so he'd forget about the skink--he has a memory about four seconds long--and when I brought him inside, I put a few catfood kibbles on a saucer, cut them into tiny pieces, put a little water on them, and took the saucer upstairs. Because maybe skinks will eat wet pieces of catfood, that's why. But the skink seems to be gone again. It's probably sneaked off somewhere unreachable to die, and I won't know where until the smell starts.

Somehow Bell-Men seems a lot less interesting than my own life at the moment.

11 comments:

Cate Gardner said...

Well your post seriously cheered up a miserable Sunday. Go, Vincent.

K.C. Shaw said...

Vincent is an awesome cat, although I suspect the skink would not agree.

Anne Spollen said...

Vincent -- absolutely love that name for a cat.

They are endlessly amusing. We have two kittens who chase things like sunlight, dustballs and their own tails. I think my new novel (I have 15 pages done) would be finished by now if they didn't provide such an interesting floor show every day.

And I never knew those things were called skinks...

K.C. Shaw said...

I don't know if it's actually a skink or if it's really a lizard. I just like typing skink. Skink skink skink.

Vincent's a bundle of fuzz and entertainment.

Danielle Birch said...

Love the marshmallow bit.

K.C. Shaw said...

I wish I'd gotten a video of it. It was adorable.

Alan W. Davidson said...

The heroic Vincent, might marshmallow slayer...it is a bit worrying, though, when things like that get away. We had an odd smell like that it the old Victorian house we used to have. We discovered a bat lodged into the row of paperwork above our computer. It was leaking fluids...

K.C. Shaw said...

Ewwww, ew ew ew. Leaking bats! I hope the skink found its way outside. I haven't seen any sign of it since yesterday morning.

Jamie Eyberg said...

That is funny. Thanks for the chuckle. Hope you find it soon.

Unknown said...

Vincent is a mighty hunter indeed! he should be rewarded with a fresh slab of meat! (or you know, a kitty treat). though proably he would be considered a mightier (not word) hunter if he hadn't lost his prey...

K.C. Shaw said...

Jamie--I hope it found its way outside and is telling its lizard friends about the awful day it had yesterday.

HG--Yesterday afternoon I took him with me when we got hamburgers, and he had several pieces. Yes, my cat likes car rides. Weird little guy.