Journal of a Sabbatical

September 16, 1999

the floyd watch

Today's Starting Pitcher: No game on account of Floyd

Today's Reading: Danube by Claudio Magris, Bird News by Vern Laux

I stayed up late last night listening the Red Sox finally defeating the Indians in extra innings, and then was awakened sometime in the wee hours this morning by Wilbur. He was sitting in a corner of the bedroom howling his little feline head off. He wasn't looking at anything in particular - at least that I could see - and when I stirred, he did not attempt to lead me downstairs to feed him. He just howled. The rain outside was coming down pretty hard, so I thought he might be frightened. I tapped my hand on the bed to get him to jump up and sleep with me. Bad mistake.

Once on the bed, Wilbur mistook my butt for prey and leaped toward it with teeth bared and claws unsheathed. I swung my right hand out to stop him but he managed to get in a little nip (didn't break the skin) on my butt, and rake one claw across the back of my hand. My butt's fine. The welt on my hand itches and looks hideous.

Wilbur jumped off the bed and ran frantically from room to room meowing, until he finally streaked downstairs and started scratching on his scratching post. I went back to sleep. When I got up in the morning, he was still downstairs, asleep on my recliner chair. If this was his way of announcing that Floyd had arrived, it was an incomprehensible announcement.

We were on the best of terms the rest of the day, even when he tried to jump through the screen to get the mockingbird who came close the window during a lull in the downpour. The rain intensified and let up in intervals all day long until late afternoon, when it became and stayed a deluge.

Most of the day, I convinced myself to stay inside and do useful work - mostly on the MRFRS volunteer newsletter. I wrote out checks for a bunch of bills, including the parking ticket I got Tuesday while I was talking too long with Tom and Ned at the coffee shop.

I went out to get the newsletter copied, buy envelopes, and mail the bills. A simple trip that ended up taking two hours and not accomplishing the entire mission. In further evidence of my dementia, I lost the parking ticket. I remember putting the check inside the ugly orange envelope, putting a stamp on it, and stacking it with the other bills. At the post office, I had no ugly orange envelope. Electric bill - check. Cellphone bill - check. Overdue condo fee - check. Ticket? Nope. I retraced my steps to the car, but found no ticket.

By this time, it was raining so hard my bra was soaked through my shirt. I hate when that happens. It occurred to me that the newsletter would get so wet between my car and Mailboxes, Etc. that I wouldn't be able to copy it. So I abandoned that part of the mission and drove to Staples for envelopes. The rain poured down in sheets making visibility impossible. But I got the envelopes and spent an hour in traffic driving 10 mph on the way home.

I left the newsletter in the car to copy tomorrow, and settled in for an early night.