As Midnight grew several things became clear.
1. Midnight was going to be an incredibly attractive cat, sleek and shiny black with huge, saucer eyes the color of gold coins and a very regal bearing.
2. He was also going to be very close to my son. He followed The Boy around like a baby duck after it's mother whenever our son was home.
3. Midnight was a kitten with a very strong imagination.
You may think I am totally insane, but I do believe that cats have the ability to imagine things. It is a part of their keen intelligence and I feel vital to their tracking and hunting skills. It is very apparent in kittens when they spend hours chasing imaginary prey and batting it around. It can also show up in their sleep.
Midnight would play for hours with his imaginary toys as well as his wide variety of real toys. We had every cat toy That my son and I could find that we thought was safe for him and a few he had obtained himself from the household items. Often, though, he preferred his imaginary toys to the ones strewn all over the house and would go back and forth between them. This kept him entertained and he really enjoyed his play, but his imagination was to have a dark side.
Most of you have seen this. The cat is sleeping when it suddenly and for no apparent reason jumps up and goes running all over the house, eyes wide and ears laid back in total fear, running for his very life. I had observed this in another cat occasionally and given a name to the imaginary creature, the dreaded Cat Demon!
Midnight did this so much that I was honestly worried that he was not getting enough sleep. With my other kittens and adult cats, it was a rare occurrence. Not so with Mid. He had multiple attacks weekly and often 2 or 3 a day on bad days. I would scoop him up and calm him when I saw this and it seemed to help but the Cat Demon was wily and waited just out of sight for his next chance.
I actually did a soft sculpt of this beast and will have to post photos of it here on the blog. It did cause quite a stir around the neighborhood when I finished it. I used to carry this cat sized creature around with me shopping and stuff. I think it disturbed people way more than it did the cat. Midnight sniffed it a couple of times then pretty much ignored it. I have always wondered what his imaginary tormentors scent was. Obviously my demon had nothing to offend a cat.
