[warning: BIRD DEATH]

Elf brought me a bird today.


My first cat, Koko, arrived when I was about 7. He was there to solve our mice problem - and solve it he did. He was an astonishingly effective killer of small, cute animals.

Although I'd read many storybooks about cats, and knew about the mouse-killing in advance, no-one had mentioned the other thing about cats: when they kill things, they bring them to you as presents.

Koko showed up, started killing mice right on schedule... and started proudly depositing their ravaged corpses at my parents' bedroom door.


So far I had avoided such morbid displays of affection - since Elf is a total wuss, and completely incompetant at killing anything.

But, today, he killed his first bird.


[Let me insert a short pause here, for cries of horror.]

[And a second pause for me to be a proud mummy. MY LOVELY BOY KILLED A BIRD. SO PROUD.]


And he duly came back home, and gave it to me.

The thing is - it really was a PRESENT. And my first response of running off to fetch
a) lots of paper towel
and
b) my camera
left my cat sitting there, indignantly meowing at my lack of gratitude.

...so I came back, patted him, praised him enthusiastically, and then ran off to get the paper towel so I could get the corpsified bird off my nice clean floor.





Cats are slightly strange...