The Short-Cut

I heard the delivery truck pull away and went to the front door to collect my Avon order.  When I opened the door, Diablo, the neighbor’s black cat, ran out from under a car at the curb and jumped on top of my boxes. I greeted him in surprise.  Unlike our fluffy, orange “Rent-A-Kitty“, Diablo usually isn’t socially minded.  I was even more surprised when he let me pet him and scratch under his chin.  I said, “What’s gotten into you?”  That’s when he leapt from the box into my house, shot between my legs and across the living room.  I thought, “Oh great,now I’ll have to chase him through the house and under the beds.”  I followed him.  He was sitting at the kitchen door waiting to be put out on the back deck.  The neighborhood cats have taken to sleeping out there on the chair cushions.   Since it is pouring rain outside, the quickest and driest path to our covered back deck was through my living room.  And we call them dumb animals.