Bartleby Victorious

Bartleby's subtle and clever plan of inaction has come to successful fruition and she is proud of herself for it.

Bartleby is now an indoor cat.

Most of the recent monsoons have been accompanied by thunder and lightning and a couple of the cells have passed directly over us with literally house-shaking consequences. Unlike, say, a dog which is not ashamed to admit its fear of natural forces, Bartleby pretended not to be afraid of the storms. It was, of course, sheer coincidence that, during said storms, the only comfortable place to take a nap was wedged tightly in behind the slider-rocker in the lanai. (Any other time she'd be sprawled across the highest point she could find: chair back, table top, etc.)

My brother took pity upon her and got into the habit of bringing her into his room during the worst of it and then kicking her outside again afterward. (Actually, I was the first guilty party, bringing her in during the tornado warning.)

Last week, however, something happened. My brother had set up a fancy enclosed litter box for her in his room along with food and water and during a particularly vicious storm had let her stay with him. This suited her at first, but now she refuses to go into his room so I have brought her food and water into the hall outside his door. Meanwhile, Bartleby has appropriated a small throw rug in the middle of the walkway between the kitchen and living room where she sleeps 18 hours a day forcing us to take giant steps over her.
Pretty much her sole activity consists of sticking her head in the refrigerator and enjoying the cold air whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Actually, now that she is confident she can come inside whenever she wants, she is more willing to go outside. Yesterday, she knocked on the glass door of the lanai to go out and half an hour later came to the front door to be let in again. Despite the heat and humidity she's taken to sleeping under my car again which is pretty much full circle from when we found her.

Except now she's confident she has finally successfully trained us to her bidding.