Hera has trapped a black hairband and is yowling insistently. “Come!” she bawls. “I, the intrepid hunter, have rescued you from your carelessness! I have caught another of your discarded objects! I must be admired!”
Between her squawks, meditation music trickles serenely through the floorboards. Our upstairs’ neighbor’s dog has anxiety and will bark all day without the music to keep him calm. Hera is nonplussed by this feeble attempt to lull her into complacency. She yowls again and trots toward me, hairband firmly in her jaws.
As I open the door to let her take her treasure to the porch, a black squirrel chitters indignantly, its paws scrabbling over the wood railing to the safety of the next porch . Hera eyes it disdainfully: she will not lower herself to chase such a creature, not when she has already vanquished this fearful foe. She turns back to me and drops the band. I know what is coming: she must be adored.
She leaps to the back of the couch, inches from the desk where I’m trying to write. I know better than to ignore her, but I don’t demonstrate my fealty quickly enough, and Hera is in my lap, prodding my typing hands, stepping on the keyboard, purring loudly, insistently. ADORE ME NOW!
And honestly, how could I not?
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Persistence and Pedagogy 
The use of sensory imagery and verbs brought me into this piece and I love the concept that Hera “must be adored”. This could be another mentor text!
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This line tells me everything we need to know about who Hera really is:
“Hera eyes it disdainfully: she will not lower herself to chase such a creature, not when she has already vanquished this fearful foe.”
Wow!
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The word that resonates with me is fealty. I am so glad that you acknowledged your loyalty to Hera. Writing or no writing she must be adored. Great text, Amanda.
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As an owner of a diva cat, I understand Hera’s pursuit of affection. It’s always at her bidding if she is anything like MiMi, who only wants adoration at bedtime. You have captured her voice in this post.
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Of course I love this piece! Hera is beautiful, and she appear to know it, which is very catlike. The writing here captures all of her elegance and dignity. The photo of her with the hair tie is so funny. Our Zorro is also obsessed with hair ties (to the point that he will try to remove them from my hair!) but he chews them and we are worried he will try to swallow them once he’s bitten them in two. Or one of our dopier cats will try to eat it. There are a couple who don’t have a lot going on upstairs. So. Hair ties live in a drawer. Which Zorro sits and watches and makes a mad leap for every time I open it. So silly!
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I had a cat who was forever eating rubber bands and hair ties. We had to ban them all. Hera will chase anything remotely snake-like (I like to think she is protecting us), but at least she doesn’t eat them. Silly cats.
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Did you read FiveHundredsDay’s post today? I love the way people are writing about (and from the perspective of) their pets. Hera sounds like one amazing kitty!
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I saw that post last week. Funny how themes crop up, isn’t it?
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Of course you stopped to pet her! You’re well trained.
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Who can resist such a pretty kitty?
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