Midnight...

I had a falling out with Midnight at tea time yesterday. 

I was trying to fill the cat dishes for their supper, but Midnight was doing his usual sitting in front of my feet every few seconds as I am trying to walk. I am in danger of tripping over that cat. So I had to nudge him gently with my foot (which I have done before and he has just moved, but not so last night). He savagely went for my foot (which fortunately had my new very thick black clogs on). I shouted NO. He ran away but immediately came back. I still needed to finish the cat bowls, and I needed to finish filling the bird feeders for morning without tripping over. So I said SHOO and waved him away with the back of my hands (which I have never done before). Midnight recoiled in shock and horror as though I had done something very terrible and ran away. I couldn't find him.

I then felt bad for saying shoo to him, because of his extreme reaction. Anyway I finished my bits and pieces, made a cuppa, and settled on the swing (with my mobile) for a long wait. I couldn't go to bed with him upset, and I was upset too. Finally Midnight was sitting at the end of the garden looking at me. I went back to my phone. Next time I looked up he was sitting on a garden chair a wee bit nearer to me. And so this went on for the next hour. Then I looked up and he was sitting on the ledge at the other side of the swing, but his back was to me. I went back to my phone, not ignoring him, but just watching YouTube (by the way, it was streaming direct to my cochlear processor, so Midnight wouldn't have known there was any sound from it). Next time I looked up he was on the swing, still his back was to me. I put the phone down and waited. His head turned round and he looked at me. So he came up to me, put a paw on my leg, so I stroked him. Then he put his head down on my leg and shut his eyes, and purred.

He needed to do this in his own time.

Something has upset him badly in the past, I am assuming, maybe his owner from a long time ago did something like that, and it went wrong and he left home? I can only guess.

Creative today is a photo of a contented Midnight immediately after he put his head on the leg.

A cuppa now. The ice maker is already churning out ice...