They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I am not sure this is the case. His attitude towards me does not seem to change whether we are together or apart.
When we are together, he very rarely sits right next to me. It is more often the case that when I sit down next to him, he will get up and move shortly thereafter. In a similar vein, he runs away whenever I approach him. But both of us are unwilling to give up, so I must follow him around until he finally gives up the chase. Now, I know what you must be thinking. You’re literally chasing after someone? The signals seem to be pretty clear. Maybe you should stop. Your actions are a bit worrisome. But I can assure you, the situation is much more nuanced.
He does not mind being near me if there is at least five feet between us. And he is not always this way. Sometimes he likes my presence, especially if I feed him. When I open windows for him he is quite happy. He does not people watch, he world watches. He also likes to play games with me. Just as I run after him, he likes to run after other objects. He puts all his effort into running and jumping. He can run quite fast. Additionally, we have staring contests from time to time. I always win. He eventually gets bored and turns away, but I can stare into his green eyes for minutes on end.
When we are apart, we Skype. He does not like to Skype for very long though, and whenever we do he hardly looks at the camera. I don’t take it personally. I think he is just camera shy. He is very nervous overall, and startles easily. On the list of objects or occurrences that scare him are plastic bags, thunder, and the vacuum cleaner. I still like to film him secretly on Snapchat though. He’s so cute and funny I cannot help it.
There was one time when he let me take a picture with him. He even looked into the camera. This happened only because he had just woken up from a nap. He is more agreeable when he is sleepy. In contrast, whenever he is sleeping and I disturb him, he opens one eye and stares at me. That’s all that he does, but the simple action conveys his annoyance effectively. But I digress. It is my favorite picture of us. I posted it on Instagram, and hung it above my dorm room desk. Whenever I read articles or wrote papers I could look up and see the perfect photo. It is such a wonderful picture that my grandma included a copy of it in her Christmas card. My mom put it on the mantle for display, and my great-grandma put it in a frame among all her other photos of the family.
Despite his ambivalence, my love for him remains: It is unconditional. I really cannot be too upset with him. He is a cat after all, and cats are quite independent creatures.
