Thumper Thinks Out Loud

I don't remember the Boy ever becoming so scared in the middle of the night that he needed to crawl into our bed. There were a few times he woke up and needed someone, but he settled back into his own bed and went back to sleep. If thunderstorms or things that go bump in the night frightened him, he never let on.

Over the past few days we've had some fairly strong winds blowing through the area. They've been strong enough to keep us from enjoying the otherwise nice weather with any bike rides, but not so bad to keep anyone from venturing outside. Just your average 25 mph winds with 40 mph gusts. No big deal.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to the sound of a cat pounding across the floor downstairs. That's nothing new; Max and Buddah typically enjoy waking us up with a rousing game of Thundering Herd Of Elephants in the middle of the night...but this was different. I only heard one cat, and it was an odd back and forth panic run in my office, not the normal tearing up and down the stairs.

So I got up to investigate, and as soon as Buddah saw me at the top of the stairs he ran hard, and practically jumped in my arms. His scramble was a clear "Pick me up now!" so I obliged. I picked him up and he tucked his head between my chin and shoulder like a frightened toddler, and he was shaking.

That's when I realized the wind had really whipped up, and things were pinging off the windows, the garage door was rattling, and he had no idea what to do.

Max lounged on top of the short climbing tower in my office and looked up like "He's such a wuss," then stretched and rolled over.

I carried Buddah back to the bedroom and set him at the foot of the bed where he waited for me to get settled. Once my head hit the pillow he ran up my body, squished the unsquishables, and curled up as close to my face as he could manage. He stayed there for 45 minutes while I scratched his head and he calmed down, and then he moved to the foot of the bed where he stayed until 6 or so.

My little ADHD kitty, the one that can barely sit still for more than 5 minutes, the one that is normally fearless and curious to the point that it scares us, turned into a little furry black ball of Protect Me at the sound of the wind shaking his world.

Today he's nothing but Brave Kitty, stalking Max and trying to assert himself as the dominant kitty. And I'm going to bed early, because I'm just not used to taking care of a small scared little kid in the middle of the night, and dammit, I'm tired.