Sleep is very important. Not quite as important as eating or ripping toys to shreds, but definitely in the top three. Now, for me to function at my highest trouble making “isn’t-he-too-cute” capacity, I need a full night’s sleep. When I don’t get that rest, I’m just not myself; I’m listless and tired and incapable of causing the mayhem I’m known for. Well, thanks to my family, I did not receive my allotment of sleep last night. You see, last night was very windy. So windy, in fact, that the gusts kept waking my family up who, in turn, woke me up.
It started with Pa. Now, Pa has a history of getting up in the middle of the night to either go to work early or clear his mind by watching a horror movie for a few minutes. Either way, I always wake up and follow him wherever he goes. Yes, it’s a bit annoying to be rousted from my slumber just to watch some boring horror movie, but I always go with him because I want to keep an eye on him just in case he is actually getting ready for work. You see, I like mornings when Pa goes to work early for three reasons. The first is that Pa is the one who takes me for my morning walk and when he isn’t around I don’t have to go (hey, it's really cold outside and my stylish jacket just doesn't cut it some times). The second is that Pa has to eat breakfast and make lunch before he leaves and he always gives me a taste (i.e. some cereal, dried fruit, fresh fruit, and/or cold cuts). And finally, as soon as his car leaves the driveway, I can return to the bedroom and sleep on his side of the bed undisturbed. Anyway, horror movie it was, so I curled up on my pillow and tried to take a little nap.
Just as I was starting to dream about chasing squirrels and bunnies, I was once again awoken, but this time by Ma. I gazed up at her with sleepy half open eyes. I guess the wind woke her up too. After checking on Pa, Ma returned to bed, the sound of her slippers on the floor waking me up for a third time as she passed.
Then I heard the sound of footsteps descending from upstairs and Sister emerged from the darkness with her pillow and comforter. “Am I the only one who sleeps soundly enough not to be bothered by the wind?” I thought. Pa relinquished the television remote and returned to bed while Sister plopped down on the couch.
Well, by this time I was wide awake and raring to go. I scurried over to Sister and demanded that she scratch my ears. Then, when she started to doze off, I swatted her with my paw until she woke up and started rubbing my ears again. Now, having my ears scratched was fun, but what I really wanted, I determined, was a belly rub. I gave Sister one more swat of my paw and a kiss on the nose then collapsed on the floor and rolled onto my back. Obligingly, Sister scratched my belly until she fell asleep.
It wasn’t until Sister was completely asleep that I decided that it was safe to settle down and go to sleep myself. Who else was left to wake me up again anyway (unless, of course, Sister’s hamster Meri decided to start banging her exercise wheel against the glass walls of her enclosure)? But where was I to sleep? I knew that Sister had blocked off her room before she left it and, seeing that Pa had not gone into work early, I knew that I couldn’t jump into his and Ma’s bed unnoticed. That left only one other option: I got up, jumped up onto the end of the couch, circled three times to nudge Sister’s feet out of my way and pat down her comforter into a nice cozy pillow, and curled up in a little ball. I fell asleep almost immediately.
The next thing I knew it was morning and Pa was standing in the living room’s doorway shaking his head at the sight of me sleeping on the couch. He didn’t have the heart, however, to kick me off.
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