She stood up, stretched fore and aft, then sat down on the patterned carpet in the middle of the room and started washing, making a face as she began; her fur still tasted a little like the room smelled, of cheese and mouth-smoke and other people from the eating party last night. Rhiow’s mouth watered a little at the memory of the cheese, to which she was most partial. She had managed to wheedle a fair amount of it out of the guests. Normally this would have left her with a somewhat abated appetite in the morning, but getting a call always sharpened her stomach, and more so ifshe was asleep when the call came: it was as if the urgency transmitted straight to her gut and there turned into hunger.
Probably some kind of sublimation,Rhiow thought, scrubbing her ears.And avhai’dnuisance, in any case.She leaned back, bracing herself on one paw, and started washing the inside right rear leg.
Well, at least the timing isn’t too abysmal. The others will be up shortly, or else they won’t have gone to bed at alclass="underline" just fine either way.
Rhiow finished up, putting her tail in order, and then stood and trotted through the landscape of disordered furniture, noting drinking-vessels left under chairs, a couple of them knocked over and spilled, and she paused to pick up half a dropped cracker with some of that pink fish stuff on it.Salmon paid,she thought as she munched.Not bad, even a night old.She gulped the last bit down, licked a couple of errant specks of it off her whiskers, and looked around. Iwonder if they left the container out on the counter, like those others?
But there wasn’t time for that: she was on call. The bedroom door was shut. Rhiow started to rear up and scratch on it, then sat back down, having second thoughts: if she wanted both breakfast and an early start, it was smarter not to annoy them. She looked thoughtfully at the doorknob, squinting slightly.
It took only a second or so to clearly perceive the mechanism: friction-dependent, as she knew from previous experience, but not engaged. The door was merely pushed shut and was sticking a little tighter at the top than the bottom, that being all that held it in place.
Rhiow gazed at that spot for a moment, closed her eyes a bit further, and presently came to see the two patches of dim sparkle that represented the material forces at work in the two adjoining surfaces of the stuck spot. Under her breath she said the word that temporarily reduced the coefficient of friction in that spot, then stood on her hind legs and leaned against the door.
It fell open. Rhiow trotted in, feeling the normal forces reassert themselves behind her. One jump took her onto the bed, which sloshed up and down as she padded up the length of it, to a spot beside Iaehh’s head. He was facedown in the pillow, a position she had come to recognize over time as meaning he didn’t want to get up any time soon. Rhiow blinked, sympathetic if nothing else, and walked over his back to get to Hhuha.
She was on her back, snoring gently. Rhiow put her head down by Hhuha’s ear and purred.
No response.
It would have been nice to do this the easy way,Rhiow thought reluctantly,but…She bumped Hhu’s head with her own, purring harder.
“Rrrrgh,” said Hhuha, and rolled over, and squinted her eyes tighter shut, and after a moment looked at Rhiow out of them with some disbelief.
She sat up groggily in the bed and looked at the door.“Now how the heck did you get in here? I know he shut that last night.”
“Yes, I know, 7 opened it, never mind,” Rhiow said, “come on, will you? I have to get an early start. Business, unfortunately.” She rubbed against Hhuha’s side and purred some more.
“Wow, you’re noisy this morning, aren’t you? What on earth do you want? Not breakfast already, you pig! You had two whole slices of pizza just a few hours ago.”
Don’t remind me,Rhiow thought, for her stomach was growling so hard, she was amazed Hhuha couldn’t hear it. “Look, it would really help if you would just getupand give me my morning feed so I can get on with things—”
“Mike? Mike, get up. I think maybe your kitty wants her breakfast.”
“Nnnggghhhh,” said Iaehh, and didn’t move.
“Oh, will you comeonalready?” Rhiow said, desperately hoping Hhuha didn’t notice that her purr was becoming a little forced. “And as for pigs, who ate half a salami last night? And never gavemeany? Even when I asked. Nowpleaseget up before it gets so late that I have to leave!”
“Gosh, you really must be hungry. I guess cats digest faster than people or something,” Hhuha said, her voice going soft, and she reached out to scratch Rhiow’s eyebrows. The tone of voice was one Rhiow had heard before: she got a sense that herehhifliked being“talked to,” even when they couldn’t hear half of what was being said, and, even if they could, would have no idea what the words meant anyway. This tendency made them either great idiots or very fond of her indeed, and either conjecture only made Rhiow twitchier under the present circumstances. She stomped her forefeet alternately on the coverlet, as much from impatience as from pleasure at having her head scratched.
“Come on, then,” said Hhuha. She got out of bed, threw a house-pelt around her, and headed toward the kitchen. Rhiow went after her, not in a hurry: this was no time to trip Hhuha halfway there and have to deal with anehhiftemper tantrum that might take half an hour to resolve. By the time Rhiow got to the kitchen, Hhuha was cranking a can open.
“Mmm,” Hhuha said, “nice tuna. You’ll like this.”
“Ihatethe tuna,” Rhiow said, sitting down and curling her tail around her forefeet. “It’s not made from any part of the fish thatyou’dever eat. You should read more of the label than just the part about the dolphins.”
“Yum, yum,” Hhuha said, putting the plate down on the floor. “Here you go, puss.Lovelytuna.”
Rhiow looked at the gelid stuff with resignation.Oh, well,she thought,it’s food, and I needsomethingbefore I go out. And anyway—manners…She reared up and gave Hhuha a good rub around the shins before starting to eat.
“You’re a good kitty,” Hhuha said, and turned, yawning, to take something out of the refrigerator.
Rhiow purred with amusement and satisfaction as she ate. The compliment was true enough, but also true was that, while she had been rearing up to rub against Hhuha’s leg, she had seen where the container of salmon pate had been pushed back behind some drinking containers on the counter beside the ffrihh.
“God, I’m glad it’s Sunday,” Hhuha said, and shut the refrigerator again, heading for the bedroom. “I couldn’t bear the thought of work after last night.”
Rhiow sighed as she finished one last bite and turned away from the dish, reluctant: eating too much now would make her want a nap, and she had no time for that.“Must be nice to have weekends off,” Rhiow muttered, sitting down to wash. “I wish I did.”
The rest of her personal hygiene took only a few minutes more: herehhifhad put ahiouhbox.out on their small terrace for her, where it was under cover from rain. While using it, Rhiow went off into unfocused mode briefly and could hear them talking as Hhuha opened the window-coverings and the window.
“Mmngnggh…” Iaehh’s voice. “Did she eat?”
“Uh huh.” A pause. “She’s out now… I don’t know… I’m still not sure it’s a great idea to have her box out there.”
“Oh, come on, Sue. Better there than in the bathroom.You’rethe one who was always muttering about walkinginthe kitty Utter in the morning. Anyway, she’s not going to fall or anything.”