Chapter 19. Mean Screens

SAWDUST

The cat loved curling up on the couch with Whitney. She'd cuddle him, give him caresses and kisses. She'd been doing just that until a moment ago, when something on that bright screen she'd been looking at seemed to upset her. Then she'd taken her hand from the cat and retrieved her cell phone. Sawdust could hear the voice coming through and recognized it as belonging to Collin, the nice man who came to his and Whitney's house quite often, always smelling of Galileo and Copernicus. Sawdust wouldn't mind seeing more of those cats. He liked to have friends. He'd been lonely at home alone all day before Cleo had come along.

Sawdust sat on his haunches and stared at Whitney, attempting to will her into resuming her affectionate ministrations. When that failed, he reached out a paw and gently poked her in the arm. She didn't seem to notice. Much as he didn't want to upset the woman he adored, he'd have to escalate things to regain her attention.

Tail up, he walked across her lower thighs, between her kneecaps and the back of the open laptop computer. Leaning sideways, he rubbed along the computer. It closed part way. Good. He turned and was about to rub along it again, when Whitney pushed the screen back up. He'd have to push harder this time.

Rather than risk another failure, instead of merely rubbing along the back of the screen this time, he flopped over on it. The computer snapped shut. Success! Hooray!

"Sawdust!" Whitney cried, clearly unhappy with what he'd done. But when he offered a pathetic mew and rolled onto his back, exposing his belly, she couldn't resist. She reached down and scratched his chest. Aaaah. Pure bliss.