Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Tail

We were sitting around the table, eating a very late snack and pulling an all-nighter to see who would win the most hands of poker, win the most at checkers, and maybe even see who could drink the most soft drinks without having to get up to use the restroom. Overall, it was a fun night. We began to talk about animals and pets, and somehow got onto the subject of whether or not pets can understand us. I remember asking the question, and my brother answering me back:

"I think they can, but it's limited. What about you? Do you think they can?"

My brother continued to give out the cards as the dealer, while waiting patiently for me to respond with another question or a comment.

"Maybe", I said taking a drink of pepsi. "It would depend I guess. But what do you think, if they can...what do you think that it is limited to, Charlie?", I asked carefully as I gathered my cards.

"Well, they can hear us and understand but, you know, they can't talk like we can. Do you agree?", he asked, looking up from his deck.

I shook my head slightly, put my cards down for a moment, and took a sip of my soft drink again. I told him that I was not so sure.

"I'll bet you 3 bags of chips and raise you a can of 7-up that animals can't talk Jimmy. Seriously. But...you know, sometimes I do wonder...you know, with all the stories and things out there.", he said.

I heard a small sound, and saw that his cat (a siamese named Ling that I was highly allergic to!) decided to come downstairs and check out what was going on...

Normally, Ling would play with a ball of yarn, or chase things, lounge around, drink milk from his bowl where his food was. He would just play around, and he would do the things that you would expect a cat to do. But this time? This time, he did not. He moved to the absolute middle of the living room floor, and sat still and completely upright. When we looked at him, his eyes stayed fixed upon us as if he were studying us. We both felt the weight of his stare, and commented on it.

"Hey Charlie..."

"Yeah Jimmy?"

"Do you...do you feel that...well, do you feel that the cat...in the middle of the floor...do you feel that the cat is staring at us?"

"Who, Ling? Well...um...kinda. Now that you mention it, it IS kinda creepy that our cat is staring at us at 3am on halloween playing cards."

"Yeah, maybe he wants to play a hand!", I said jokingly. Ling looked at me and stared for a moment...then looked away and looked at my brother again while he dealt more cards onto the table.

I felt funny, and decided to say out loud: "Hey Ling, if you can talk, and you want to play...then why don't you introduce yourself? Every newcomer has to make a formal greeting and say a few things to welcome themselves to the table!", I said smiling sarcastically...

"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII............." ..... The cat said HI!!!

It was not a meow-ed "hi". It was not an interpreted "hi". It was a flat-out, direct HI just as you would say in the English language when you were enthusiastically greeting a friend you hadn't seen for a while.

I looked at my brother and said (abbreviated of course!) "WTF! Charlie the cat just said Hi!!!"

We both got up and backed away from the table, standing beside eachother now and facing the cat at the adjacent room that still sat directly in the middle of the floor, and did not move a muscle.

With shock and possible terror on his face, I looked at my brother and he looked at me, uncertain of what to do.

"Maybe the cat heard one of us say hi or something, and copied it. He couldn't possibly know what it meant", my brother insisted.

Ling started to move toward us slowly, a step at a time, from the living room to the dining room where we were. I looked at Ling, who now made eye contact with me, and then my brother, after every step.

"Ling", I said gently, "Why don't you say hi to us again since we didn't quite expect you to speak to us. My brother may have been startled, and not heard your introduction. Can you do that for me Ling?"

The cat then spoke:

"YES. HELLO...HI...."

My brother screamed, and so did I...as we ran out of the house. We went to the building next to the house (my dad's martial arts school), and told him what had happened. He was not sure whether he believed it or not right away, but decided to accompany us back to the house to see if the cat would do it again.

But the cat was nowhere to be found. For 3 days the cat was gone. On the 4th day, he returned, but his eyes were a different shade of blue than they had been before.

My brother got close to the cat again, but said he was definitely different. I never got close to the cat again. Partially because of my allergies, partially because he might have given me a speech on how to play a better hand of cards, and honestly, because I didn't want to know then what else he might be able to do or what he really was if not a cat.