Simon: terrorized and adored.

A persistent meowing in the distance causes me to pause for a moment and consider: where is Simon? Simon is our kitten. He spends much of his time in the garage or outside where I can walk without him whining at my leg and where he is safe from the loving "attentions" of my children. When he spends time indoors, things invariably get messy.

He either "marks his territory" on our beds, or in some dark, hidden corner. Or perhaps the kids grab him by the hair or the tail rather than the body. Caleb is very taken with throwing him in the running bathwater. Which, to be honest, he (being the cat) actually doesn't mind so much... but makes a mess and a lot of work for me. And tonight, the meowing. Somewhere. It struck me as so odd because our little kitten can be very persistent and very noisy, and this sounded too far off to be normal. I knew he was in the house, so why wasn't he meowing at my feet as usual. Something in me, some instinct deep inside caused me to turn to my son and demand: "Where's Simon???" Sure enough, my son had decided to try out a new experiment: Putting the cat in my side-table drawer. The poor cat. I think if he had known what he was getting himself into, he would have run the other way when we walked into that house to pick him up. And yet, we wanted a pet so that our kids would learn to be gentle and loving and responsible (perhaps too much to ask at the tender ages of 1 and 2) and if nothing else, Simon does provide endless entertainment and is relatively good to the kids. He still comes and purrs at their leg and lets them pick him up. Either he is a glutton for punishment or he realizes that the few gentle "pats" from the kids may be the only affection he will receive that day. I don't have time to sit and pet him, so he has at least resigned himself to tolerate and even seek out the littlest ones in the house.

All I can say is that despite feeling sorry for him, I can't help but laugh at some of the crazy experiments my children preform. And even his placid reaction to what is heaped upon him is amusing. Hmmmm, maybe I will read my book with my poor, terrorized kitten on my lap. Perhaps it is the least I can do.