Watts spots

Can you spot Watts?

I have probably two places where I like to be in my apartment- my chair and my bed.

Watts on the other hand has about 20 different spots. Sometimes he sleeps on the bed. Sometimes he sits on the floor next to a big pile of clothes and a blanket I leave there to keep him warm. For some reason he seems to be interested in going into the bathtub, but I typically don't allow him in there. He likes to go up on the countertop late at night and, in the words of Bob Dylan, “go scrounging around for his next meal.” I think he likes butter so I can't leave that out anymore. He likes to sleep on the love seat in the main room. He likes to sit up on my desk either facing out the window and watching the neighborhood from his place overlooking Lake Waconia and Lake Street (out there where the neighborhood cats roam) or facing in and fast asleep. Sometimes I find him by my shoes- just chilling out. Other times he waits at the door hoping to meet some neighborhood cats or make a break for the great Minnesota outdoors where he can return to nature, to his true wild cat form.

We share a small space, but Watts seems to make himself comfortable wherever he is- even if it’s just lying there in the middle of the floor where he has absolutely no incentive to be.

Last night, however, I could not find him anywhere, not even in the closet, which is the closest thing he has to a hiding spot he can disappear to. I could hear him meowing softly and I could feel him thumping around but I had no idea where he was. Finally, I looked in that all too familiar spot where things are often found if they have been missing for a while- under the bed. What I found was actually kind of amazing. Watts had a discovered a spot I would never have thought he would want to go. There was a tear in the fabric under the bed and Watts had managed to crawl through it and into the architecture of the box spring and make himself at home. I didn't want him to get stuck in there so I poked and prodded and tried to grab him but he just bit and clawed and jumped away in response. I said, “ok I'm just going to leave you in there and if you get stuck it’s your fault,” and Watts said “Meow.”

All this being said he did eventually make it out of there. I'm not sure what I'm learning from all this small drama.

Maybe just that Watts can take care of himself.