Thomas Garcia: The adventures, ‘tails’ of a dynamic duo

Thomas Garcia

QCS Columnist

A few days ago I was saved from an attack from a most vicious creature by my cats, Brownie and Toby.

I had the door cracked just a bit for some fresh air; yes it was still cold outside but I had a blanket and the cats had their fur.

All was calm, all was right, when all of the sudden I heard a thunderous rumbling come from outside.

Before I had a chance to react, Brownie had clawed my leg, Toby hissed at me for causing the loud noise and they both ran away and hid under their chair.

Not exactly how you’d expect the heroes of the story to react, but trust me they get braver.

The chair offers little cover for the two but if you can’t see their heads, then they are invisible.

I got up and walked to the door where I saw a guy in the alley unloading material from the back of a trailer. The loud crash was the sound of the trailer gate being put down.

Seeing that there was no impending danger, I decided to return to my nap on the couch. I figured Brownie and Toby would join me after they felt the coast was clear.

After 10 minutes, I awoke and the boys were still not back on the couch. I looked around and saw they were both at the door, standing on their hind legs trying to get a better view of what was going on outside.

At first I thought they had developed an interest in trade-skill labor. Maybe one day they would take some classes and learn to build a chair that they can later use as a scratching post.

Just as I was about to lie back down, I noticed that Brownie’s tail was fluffed and his stare was not one of amusement.

Toby began to paw at the door, something I had seen him do before to try and catch a bug. Only this time Toby’s soft taps were more like thuds and he began to hiss.

I got up to see what had sparked such a reaction from the two and there on the porch sat a dog.

It was a yellow and white dog and it was just sitting there in the middle of the porch staring at my two cats.

Toby and Brownie both looked at me to determine if I was going to intervene and tell the foul creature to be gone or if they could continue their stare war.

I decided to sit this one out, I figured there was nothing good on TV and it could be funny to see how things played out.

Seeing that I wasn’t going to interfere, Brownie and Toby returned to their fearsome posturing. Only this time Brownie figured a crab walk was in order to display his manliness. If you don’t know what a cat crab walk is look it up sometime on the Internet.

Toby continued to his and paw at the door almost like he was shadow boxing.

As for the dog, he was still sitting in the same spot, starring at the cats. He did not bark, growl or make and hostile advances towards the cats.

Even when Toby and Brownie were trying to claw at them from under the door.

Maybe the dog got scared or maybe they had seen enough. Whatever the case, the dog finally stood up, walked down the steps and left the yard.

As the dog got further away, Brownie and Toby both started meowing and kept moving around the door to keep the pooch in their sights.

I told them “That’s why you all can’t have friends over, you’re too mean,” and returned to the couch.

Brownie and Toby stayed by the door and kept vigil in case the strange creature came back to menace their happy home once again.

I’m not sure if they felt they had won the day or if they were hoping their new friend would come back to play.

Thomas Garcia is a senior writer at the Quay County Sun. He can be reached at [email protected]