Lights on the Wall

Some cats chase just about anything that moves. Sometimes it's a string. Other times it's a laser pointer. Cleo liked to chase the thin band of lights that a headlight makes through a crack in the bedroom curtain. It slid around the top of the wall in the bedroom, constantly taunting her as it slid from one end of the wall to the other. Eventually she couldn't stand it anymore. That light had teased her for the last time. Cleo waited patiently on the edge of the bed for the light to reveal itself. Finally, the moment had come. In a giant leap, Cleo sprung up from the edge of the bed, smacking the light near the ceiling with her paws...then realized she couldn't grip it and slid down the wall to the floor.

You would think that a 7 foot drop would deter a cat. It didn't. Cleo would still go after the lights. She just got smarter about it. Instead of jumping off the edge of the bed, she would jump from the head of the bed. It was positioned right up against the wall, thus ensuring that Cleo had a shorter drop (and a nice cushy landing). However, this made sleeping rather difficult, since the lights appeared at night and that's when my husband and I would try to sleep. There were many instances of Cleo landing on our heads in her attempts to get the lights. Those attempts were promptly followed by "Honey, YOUR cat is at it again."