One claw hooked in to the edge of the dangling blanket. Slowly, carefully. If he can move it more. If he can pull it all the way down. Uncovering the sleeping figures above him. Off limits if they were covered, but all his if they weren’t. Rules. But there were no rules that he could not help uncover them. Pulling carefully. Waiting…the half asleep male tries to pull the blanket back but he draws out another claw holding it still…the male will give up. One more try and…he hears the frustrated sigh, “you’re hogging the blankets….” But the female is asleep and can’t hear him. The male grabs the edge of blanket and tries to cover back up. Eventually falling asleep. The soft snores are the signal.
Waiting…claws still holding the blanket. Still. He has experience at this. He’s come close before. But the rules. Once they are awake he is banished. Once it is light outside he is banished. Only in the dark and in while they sleep can he do his work. One time he was about to steal away the female’s breath and she woke. Almost seeing him in the dark in the split second before he was banished.
Slowly pulling the blanket again. The male is uncovered now. He could just take the male. He thinks about it. Waiting. Claws holding the blanket. Teeth gleaming in the moonlight. But he wants them both. He’s never been this close. Inch by inch. Now gravity helps…the blanket slides off. It covers him. Warm from the woman sleeping. Blankets…warmth…he tries to fight it but can’t keep his eyes open. Just a few minutes then he will strike.
She wakes up with the sunrise. Chilly. The blankets have fallen off the bed. She reaches down to pull them back. Stops. Looks. Her husband makes a sleepy sound behind her, “You awake?”
“Yeah, look at this.” She whispers to him.
He leans over her peering over the edge. He sees him curled in the middle of the blankets. A ball of fur in a sunbeam.
“Spoiled thing. He must have pulled them off so he could have them all!”
And in his dreams the cat stretches his claws and bares his teeth…another night, another time.
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