Pink Toes and The Great Pumpkin

Princess Pink Toes (aka Margot) has just about gotten used to her hot pink nail caps.  She's not trying to gnaw the things off anymore.  I have even caught her prancing a few times, when she thought I wasn't paying attention.  And I've decided I like "the wrong order" so much I might get it wrong on purpose the next time.  She's just so cute!

We were playing our usual game of Bed Mice.  I had a hand under the comforter, trying to be mice-y and sneaky, and Margot was doing her best to search and kill the sneaky little "mouse".  As usual, we were both having a grand time.  Margot was getting a little nutty and I was breathless from extended laughing.  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Ari stalking around the edge of the bed.  I knew what was coming.  And as usual, Margot was far too engrossed in the game to notice.

This time, though, Ari surprised us both.

Instead of leaping on the bed and going for Margot's tail, he did something new.  He insinuated himself under the edge of the comforter and eeled himself up onto the bed.  He stayed a quiet round lump for quite some time, so that I totally forgot about him.  Some time later, after a particularly hysterical chase and leap and bite, Margot took a break, flopping onto her side.  It was Ari's perfect moment and he took it.

When he stood up, still under the duvet, I swear, he looked like a big round pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin patch at midnight--I even had the words, It's The Great Pumpkin, on my lips.  The words never got out.  Margot saw the startled expression on my face and reacted even before Ari had fully stood up.  She leapt up, did a 180 degree turn in mid air, and landed on top of the rising Ari with a yowl that had the hairs on my neck standing up. She started biting like mad and poor Ari, who was not expecting his ambush to go so horribly wrong so very quickly, panicked and bolted, backwards and blind, at full speed, straight into the wall.  Almost immediately, things devolved into a running rolling clawing mass of tri-colored fur until Ari managed to pull out and dive under one of the living room chairs.

That Margot is an enigma.  She startles at the least thing most days.  When it rains too much or the wind blows, she's cowering under the bed.  But when the two of them tussle, it's usually Margot who comes out on top.  Ari likes to lurk and pop up unexpectedly, targeting Margot's tail when she's engrossed in something.  He gets away with it once but he always tries a second or third time and I've seen her box him so hard in the face that he almost falls backward on his butt.  And he is three times her size!

My little Pink Toes.  Life would be a terribly lonely place without her.