Callie the Sith Lord Cat

Sunday, October 21, 2007
Posted by chelsea

Last night I celebrated the first rainy day I've seen since I moved to Greece by staying in, making a mug of hot cocoa (on the stove top of course), and watching a movie on the big screen in the common room.

Since the HUG group has been gone to Egypt since Tuesday, I've really started to feel the emptiness of The Artemis in the past few days. So,when I picked out a movie, I tried my best to not pick something scary, not wanting to conjure up images of murderers lurking in dark corners or stairwells afterward. I settled on Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, knowing I wouldn't suspect Darth Vader to be waiting for me when I ventured back to my room later that night.

As I settled onto the couch to enjoy the movie, Callie (the Myhan's sometimes sweet, but mostly devilish cat) jumped up beside me and climbed onto my lap, purring and kneading in contentment. Callie is an outside cat, but with the sudden onset of chilly rain, I felt compassion for her and let her in after it got dark to enjoy a bit of dry warmth before I kicked her out on my way to bed. And besides that, she's been getting extremely lonely with everyone being gone, so I try to cut her some slack and let her lounge with me in the evenings when I'm around.

Another detail about Callie is that she's not at all stealthy, as most cats have a reputation to be. She has quite the belly wobbling below her as she walks, and she wears a collar bearing a small bell that jingles in an announcement of her presence whenever she is near. Last night though, as she sat watching Star Wars with me, she must have absorbed some stealth knowledge from the Sith Lords, because although the movie didn't frighten me, she managed to scare the bejeebies out of me on a few different occasions later that night.

During the movie, I paused it three times to do various things such as: make more cocoa, go to the bathroom, get a candy bar, and get a sweatshirt. Each time I got up from the couch, Callie did so as well, sauntering off to who-knows-where as I completed my task.

The first time I got up, which was to make more cocoa, I was walking through the dining area towards the kitchen. There is a large fireplace in the dining area, and as I passed, I noticed a sudden movement to my right and found Callie perched in pounce-ready stance on the edge of the mantle...inches away from my face. Stifling my gasp, I patted her small head and moved on, chuckling at the fact that Callie had managed to startle me.

The second time I got up, I walked over and used the public bathroom near the lobby, then made my way through the dining area to the vending machine to get a candy bar. Just as I turned the corner and walked past the vending machine to grab some change I had set out earlier, I felt a movement above me and looked up to see Callie leaning the front half of her body over the edge of the top of the vending machine, staring with her gleaming eyes looking as if she was ready to kill me. This time I gasped out loud and moved away to coax her down from the machine before I made my purchase and returned to the couch, a bit shaken, but still chuckling.

The third and last time I got up, it was for my sweatshirt, which was upstairs in my room. I took the elevator up and retrieved it, but as I came down, I accidentally pushed the wrong button and ended up on the second floor instead of the first. To make the elevator go again, you must open and close the door before pressing the button of your destination-floor, so I did just that and resumed my journey back to the first floor. Just before the elevator stopped, I felt a prickling sensation on the back of my neck and I looked down to see Callie squatted at my feet, ready to leap to battle with my face if provoked.

Reaching the ground floor, I leapt out of the elevator and shut the door on Callie, lecturing her through the window about what a bad kitty she was for scaring me like that. After a minute or two of lecturing and a few seconds of self-examination after realizing I was lecturing a cat through an elevator door, I opened the door and released her, quickly returning back to the couch to resume my movie.

As I rounded the corner to plop back down, I saw a fluffy little ball of fur, purring furiously and acting disturbed when I sat down, as if she'd never left her spot once. Callie had managed to not only beat me back from the elevator (a mere 25-30 feet away), but she'd done so without me seeing her until she was settled back to her spot.

I am never watching Star Wars with that cat again. I'm certain she was watching with one eye open, soaking in all the stealthy Sith moves she could, determined to scare the wits out of me.

Maybe being alone in a big hotel for more than a few days isn't such a great idea after all.

6 comments:

Casey said...

First of all, nice choice in movies. Second, that's kinda freaky.

Unknown said...

Chelsea, you are one of those people who attract strange incidents and always have great stories to tell, lol.

By the way, I picked up an extra copy of the latest Searcy Living issue for you. I was hoping to find the wedding issue promo I made using one of your photos, but they forgot to use it. So unfortunately, we'll have to wait until the wedding issue comes out.

Unknown said...

haha, sith moves.

Ben Lamb said...

It's good to read that you're not in a cardboard box on the side of the road.

Anonymous said...

Chelsea.....watch out for stairwells...whoooooo..whoooo (heavy breathing)

alice-anne said...

i'm convinced that cat is evil. every time i would talk to meredith on the phone last summer, the cat would somehow figure out a way to hang up on me. every time.

your blog is hilarious, by the way.