A man who loves cats
Judy Conlin
If you have been reading my column (shame on you if you haven’t), you know I was contemplating building a little dream house. Having Nurse Judy, my very picky alter ego, was not conducive to the project. I was trying to downsize, and she was trying to get a mansion size. She wanted more closets, majestic staircases, indoor and outdoor entertainment areas, and golden fixtures everywhere. I was constantly squelching her ideas, and the builder was always willing to listen to me, not her. He may have realized that she wasn’t putting a penny in this venture. It was a good arrangement, and I was happy to have the builder on my side.
This continued until the man learned that I had cats. This came about when I looked at the plans for the laundry room. “This won’t work,” I told him. “There is not enough space for the cats’ eating station.”
“You have cats?” he asked. When I answered in the affirmative, I was requested to give their number, names, and history, I was informed that he and his wife had had many cats over the years, I was happy that he liked cats as many people, especially men, do not. “Don’t you worry about their eating space,” he said. “I’ll make the door swing the other way and they will have plenty of space.
I nodded, happy that the problem was solved and went back to looking at the blueprint, trying to ignore Nurse Judy’s constant suggestions. The builder was not to be deterred.
“In fact, see that linen closet? I could easily turn that into a playhouse for them.”
I was astonished. I love my cats, but I certainly didn’t want to give up the linen closet for them. The builder looked disappointed at this turn of events, but we moved on. Sensing that I had hurt his feelings regarding the cats, I asked if he could put in a pet door by the sliding glass doors leading to the porch. Ke immediately brightened. . ‘O f course I can, “ he beamed. “Do you then want the porch screened in?”
“Okay,” I said, seeing dollar signs before my eyes.
“I will have a screen all the way to the bottom,” he said. “No metal.”
“I want some metal on the bottom,” I said.
“It should have screen all the way to the bottom,” He averred. “Otherwise, the cats can’t sit out there and see out.”
I was flabbergasted. “They have a screened in porch now with metal on the bottom and they sit on the chairs and tables to look out,” I say.
“That’s not very convenient for them,” he muttered under his breath, “Then you’ll need another pet door from the porch to the outside, I guess?” he continued aloud.
“No,” I say. “I determine when they can go outdoors. I let them in and out. They just can’t go in and out willy nilly.”
His look told me that he pitied those cats with such a heartless cat mom. I felt ashamed but wasn’t sure why. We carried on our planning, and he was most gracious with all my requests, but as luck would have it, that dream house was not to be. The elevation made it necessary for steps and at my age, I was afraid of steps.
It was sad to give up my dream house, but even sadder to lose touch with the builder. It’s impossible not to love a man who loves cats. Nurse Judy feels different. “He cared more about the needs of the cats than he did about mine,” she pouted.
Hearing that, I loved the builder even more. Anyone who can ignore Nurse Judy is a friend of mine for life.
More later,Judy and the cats
www.nursejudyinfo.com
