I have just arrived at my family's house, having come home for a two-week 'holiday' followed by a one-week tour with Whim. I came bearing no gifts (those are either already here or not yet bought), three big bags full of books for my senior essay, two boxes of Whim World Tour materials, one laptop computer with which to work on said essay and tour, and two adorably distraught felines.
Though Messrs. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are usually somewhat irked by the arduous car trip from school to my family's home, they have previously had little problem staying at the actual house. Surely, there were strange humans, an annoying cat and several (yummy) chinchillas - but on the whole the novelty effect, as well as the fact that the house was easily ten times the size of our apartment made the whole thing bearable and - dare I say it - fun.
This time, however, the proceedings have hit a bit of a snag in that the family zoo has been enlarged by one rather precocious and enormous eight or nine month-old 'puppy' named Roswell. Add to this the further addition, in a few days, of my aunt, her husband, and their son, and we have four men, three women, two male cats, one female cat, one male chinchilla, three female chinchillas, and one male dog. This brings us to a grand total of eight male beings and seven female beings inhabiting one house for the holidays. In order to make this possible, 'the boys' and I will be staying in one room, a somewhat smaller one than our usual 'guest' room, which will be taken by my aunt and her husband. I don't particularly mind, as I have never lived in this house outside semester breaks and have no 'room' of my own - though I'm afraid my cats are somewhat disturbed by being in a different room than that to which they are accustomed. I know they will suffer somewhat from the cramped quarters, and hope they will be able to 'exercise' in the basement - but then, given the alternative of a kitty hotel in which they would share a cage, I'm sure this is infinitely preferable.
All I can say at this point, as one cat eyes the door with plans of escape and the other cowers in the corner for fear of the return of THAT ANIMAL (Roswell), is that we need each and every prayer for peace sent our way. Also, as one of my friends would put it, 'mad props' go to my Mami for spending most of her day picking us up and risking serious claw damage to her snazzy leather seats.
23:36
