The average cat’s hearing is at least five times keener than ours.
Even so, it wasn’t that I couldn’t hear my friends when they told me all the reasons I shouldn’t get involved with you. I chose to ignore them. Lust is a powerful thing.
Most cats have no eyelashes.
Your dark, long eyelashes were one of the first things that attracted me to you. That and how much you made me laugh. The electric jolts surging through my body when you brushed against my hand or looked at me that way.
A cat’s territory consists of a core area where it feels secure enough to sleep, eat and play.
I was so happy when you came into our territory and were so considerate about not making Ben feel invaded. That you wouldn’t stay over until he’d got really used to you. That you made time for him too, even though all I really wanted to do was play with you all by myself.
Cats have powerful night vision meaning they can see at light levels six times lower than what we need to see.
If my night vision was that strong maybe I wouldn’t have been able to lie to myself for so long. Pretending that it was too dark for me to be sure that you were rifling through my purse when you thought I was sleeping. Telling myself that I must have spent that money and forgotten about it.
In the largest domestic cat breed, the average male weighs 20 pounds.
That’s the same amount that you stole from Ben’s piggy bank. All the new two-pound coins he’d been saving every time he got one in the change from his five-pound pocket money. Then said you had no idea where it had gone. It’s also how much I put in the jar on the kitchen shelf every month when I got paid, a nest egg for taking him to Norway to see the Northern Lights. I’d been doing it for years and saved six hundred pounds. Yep, you took that too.
Some people believe if you dream about a white cat you’ll have good luck.
I gathered all sorts of good luck charms in the hope that they could change things. A four-leaf clover; a maneki-neko Japanese lucky cat with the waving arm; a rabbit’s paw (fake of course – maybe that’s why it didn’t work?); and every time I see a penny, I pick it up. But, I really needed those pennies too seeing as you couldn’t keep your fingers out of my purse.
Stress is experienced less frequently by cat owners.
I hadn’t realised I was stressed, that you were stressing me out, for ages. Until Ben kept asking me what was wrong and ending up in tears as I’d shouted at him. But, of course, I was. Always wondering what you might steal next. Swallowing my words so I could let you keep on touching my body.
Cats can’t see directly under their noses.
I wasn’t so hot at that either, or I chose not to be. But I can see clearly now and I know that lust is no longer enough.
Amanda Saint is the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016) and Remember Tomorrow (2019). Her short fictions have been widely published and appeared on lots of prize long and shortlists and the winners’ podium just the once so far. Amanda founded and runs Retreat West, providing an online writing community, competitions and courses; and the award-winning Retreat West Books indie press, which publishes short fictions, novels and memoirs. You can find Amanda on Twitter at @saintlywriter and amandasaint.net
Photo by Karina Vorozheeva on Unsplash.
