Attack Cat

Since I don't have a regular table in my studio apartment, I eat all my meals on the couch. Usually if I eat cereal, my cats are all up in my grill, trying to get at the milk. About five feet from the couch is a window that I leave open most of the time, and just outside this window is a small tree (variety unknown though I would guess some sort of stunted maple) where various bird families hang out, mostly mourning doves and another smaller dull-brown bird. When the cats sit on the ledge by the window, the birds on the branches are only another two feet away through the screen.

The cats go nuts.

This morning, the birds were so distracting that the cats stopped paying attention to the cereal I was eating and instead crouched perfectly still, ears at attention, to watch the birds. And then like two possessed undead, their jaws began to twitch and they made soft clicking noises that attracted return calls from the birds.

The cats' mouths were moving super fast-- the first time I ever saw them do this, part of me wondered if it was a seizure symptom. It got to the point where one of the cats had to stop and rub his paw across his cheek, their mouths were clicking of their own accord for that long.

Can you imagine your natural hunting instincts just taking you over like that? Yes, I know, people's bodies react really strangely to fear and lust, etc. But what's happening to the cats is the equivalent of passing somebody hot on the street, stopping in your tracks and making strange grunting noises with the back of your throat, all without your control. In a way, that would be awesome-- not for the recipient, of course, but for you-- your body would express your desires whether you wanted it to or not, and just by expressing them, would likely achieve much more than we humans, with our innumerable fears and doubts, do on our own.

Just think if you could harness that power for job interviews, competitions, everyday decisions: so many people claim not to know what they really want, and even when they do know, they often neglect to go after their desires. If this were automatic and your body's reaction committed you to things, there would be a lot less deception, confusion and holding yourself back.

Then again, there would be a lot more embarrassment, too.