Mookie's World

The kittens are getting big. I see them loping across the living room, trying to make their tiny bodies catch up to their long legs. They still have trouble jumping, but Mookie, the one with stripes on his back and a pink nose, manages to get on the window sill so he can look out onto the world.

Such a little animal, such a big world. Do you ever have days when you feel like the tiniest, most vulnerable thing, trapped inside the house and looking out the window, while the world goes on about its business?

I feel that way today. Suffocating under a pile of papers, drowning in a sea of computer screens. Looking outside at the green, green world, the trees shifting in the wind outside my office window. The earth takes a breath of fresh air, but this room feels stale.

The kittens have taken to sleeping on my neck and chest, so I often feel like I'm wearing a fur coat at night. Nanuq wanders the house, making strange bleating sounds from time to time when he realizes he's alone. I breathe deeply and look at the patterns the curtains make against the wall. They look like snowflakes.