What's the Kitty Mafia? If you own cats, you are probably living with the Kitty Mafia yourself. Let me explain...
When I was 11 years old my Christmas present was an adorable little calico kitten I named Holly (short for Holly Berry, since I found her playing in the Christmas tree.) When I graduated college and got my first apartment, I brought Holly to live with me.
The only problem was, I spent very little time at home, due to my work hours and commute. At the time I was still volunteering at HART, so I decided to adopt a kitty to keep Holly company. Thus Cleo (short for Cleopatra) entered my life.
At least 6 months went by before I realized that I was living with the Kitty Mafia. The realization came to me as I lay in bed one Saturday morning, attempting to sleep in but being completely thwarted by the cats, as was usual.
I am not a morning person. If I had my way I'd be up until 1 or 2 in the morning and then sleep until 10 or 11. So the weekends are my chance to do just that. Unfortunately, just as the sun would start rising at some far edge of the planet, Cleo would climb on top of me and start purring, kneading, and licking my face. This of course would instantly wake me up, and I'd have to fend her off with the blanket until she would finally settle down next to me. Grumbling, I would go back to sleep.
As soon as I would return to dreamland, Cleo would get up and search around the room for any bit of plastic or other noisy items that should could rustle. Again, I would wake instantly. Stubbornly keeping my eyes shut, I would yell at Cleo to go away. The rustling would stop for a minute, then start up again. This would continue in a loop until I would fumble around on my nightstand for an empty water bottle or chapstick that I could throw in the general direction of the sound. Ah, peace at last!
Not.
Cleo would return to my bed, to purr, knead and lick again, this time joined by Holly. Holly never messed around - she would just sit right on my head until I was forced to get up. The cats always won.
You may be wondering how this lead me to the realization of the Kitty Mafia...
One sleepless night I woke early, before the cats. I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. As the sun started to come up at some far edge of the planet, Holly rose, stretched, hit Cleo on the head, and then left the room. Cleo, having been woken by Holly, got up as well, and left the room. She didn't make it out of the doorway before I heard an hiss and glimpsed Holly's paw reaching out to smack Cleo again. Cleo ducked her head and came back into the room. She jumped on the bed, came over to me and started purring, kneading and licking. I fended her off with the blanket until she settled down. I waited, and heard soft growling coming from the doorway. Cleo got up and jumped off the bed again. She searched around the room to find something to rustle. I was completely dumbstruck as the lightbulb went off in my head.
Since that morning, I watched their interactions more closely, and found that Cleo deferred to Holly in everything. She wouldn't even eat food until Holly had finished. Holly was the Kitty Mafia boss, and Cleo was her soldier.
I enjoyed my Kitty Mafia, but sadly the mafia boss became old and sick, and eventually passed away. I adopted another cat from HART, Danu, and she joined with Cleo to form the Kitty Assassins! (They vowed on Holly's deathbed that they would spend every day trying to kill me, in honor of her memory. They're very good at it. Danu has needles of death (i.e. very sharp claws!))
What has the Kitty Mafia done in your house?
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