Morning Stompies

Like a child with severe ADD, Bastas needs a lot of structure in his life and he doesn't tolerate deviations in routine, no matter how small. This morning I didn't need to get up and make lesson plans, so I decided to hit the snooze on my alarm to catch another 10 minutes of warm, blanketed peace and quiet.

Now, Bast doesn't normally doesn't express interest in my well-being. That's not to say he doesn't show love, or that he's indifferent to me - when I was diagnosed with early stages of cervical cancer earlier this year, he found me crying on the kitchen floor and snuggled up to lick my tears away. He is extremely sweet and attentive to my moods, but if I stub my toe and go on a shrieking bender, the biggest reaction I normally get from him is a raised head and an indignant huff for disturbing his nap. Emotional pain, he's all support; physical pain, well, not so much...

This morning after I hit the snooze, Bast became extremely concerned that I didn't immediately get up. It started with a polite snuffling at the side of the bed - a subdued huff of air to check that I was indeed still laying in bed like a slug. He pushed his nose under the hand that lay draped over the bedside, as if to say, "Excuse me, miss, the alarm went off. I heard it. It's time for your shower."

When this elicited no response except a muffled, "mornin'bast,go'wayimstillsleepin", he joined me on the bed with a delicate leap, making sure to place all his feet anywhere but on me with his usual long-legged grace. I thought he would curl up beside me and join me in my snooze, but after a few seconds, I opened my eyes to see him standing over me, watching my face. I closed my eyes again, wanting to enjoy my lay-in...

Unfortunately for my peaceful morning, after sniffing, prodding, and staring, Bast's next step to exorcise whatever demon was keeping me in bed was to stomp the hell out of my mid-section. He reared up and pounced, looking every bit a fox leaping on a field mouse, and came crashing down onto my stomach.

While being chased around dodging pillows was probably not how Bast foresaw the results of his actions, I did get out of bed like he wanted.

Bastas: 1
Internal Organs: 0