Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Two Halves Make a Hole

A surreal riddle:  You are all alone in a room entirely bricked in, floor, walls, ceiling.  In the room with you are a mirror and a wooden table.  How do you escape?

Cats are enigmatic.  They will sometimes stare at an upper corner of a wall when there isn’t anything there you can see, or look at you, blink slowly and begin to purr for no discernible reason.  They are contradictory: at home they are sweet, soft, and funny, but fierce and efficient hunters when allowed out; they have actually caused a significant decline in bird populations where they are allowed to hunt.  They are creatures of habit; my neutered male cat Snaps leads me into the bathroom first thing every morning for my daily weigh-in, though at that hour I don’t speak to him or stroke him, it’s just part of the routine we follow.  He also “helps” me brush my teeth; when I bend to rinse my mouth, he thrusts his head until the running water, lapping madly – I think he thinks I’m drinking and he wants his share.  I keep a little towel handy to dry his head because if I don’t he shakes it and scatters water everywhere.  That has become a tender moment.  To encourage him not to struggle, I wipe gently, telling him what a fine animal he is, then kiss him on his damp forehead – another routine he and I have developed.  In fact, he has come to enjoy kisses on his forehead and will press his head against my face at other times to get a kiss.  We have a second cat, Panzi, who is getting old and becoming thin.  To encourage her to eat, we started feeding her a daily can of wet food.  Fortunately, we settled on a noontime feeding, because she knows when it is due and begins a whining campaign about forty-five minutes in advance.  Is it obvious I love to indulge out cats?  One of my favorite gifts lately is a shirt with the words to the lullaby “Soft Kitty” printed on it (from the TV show “Big Bang Theory).  Purr, purr, purr!


The title of this post is a clue to the riddle.

We’re leaving Thursday for Muncie, Indiana, and Magna cum Murder, a really good mystery convention.  It’s not one of the big ones, but that means you get a chance to meet everyone and are not so likely to get lost in the crowd.  The programming is excellent and the person in charge, Kathryn Kennison, is constantly feeding you.  Plus there’s a woman who sells amazing hats.  I’m hoping for a purple one this year.

Won’t you be glad when the election is over?  I’m an election judge and have already voted by absentee ballot, so I am particularly aggravated by the constant commercials and telephone calls.  On the other hand, I think this presidential election is hugely important and urge all of you consider carefully before you vote next month.

Answer to the surreal riddle:  You look in the mirror and see what you saw, you use the saw to cut the table in half, and since two halves make a whole, you can climb out the hole

4 comments:

Linda O. Johnston said...

I really do love your riddles, Monica! And your description of your love-fests with your cats is really moving.

Betty Hechtman said...

I can relate to your cat routines. Most mornings, Rocky drapes himself on my shoulders while drink coffee.

Tricky riddle!

Anonymous said...

You look in the mirror, you see what you saw, you saw the table in half, two halves make a hole so you climb out;)

Anonymous said...

Riddle came from NCIS, actually. Season 7 finale :)