Lucy the Guard Cat

Lucy might be all of just eight pounds sopping wet, but Lucy is not one to be pushed about, at least not easily. She's a proud little thing who takes her many responsibilities quite seriously, such as guarding our house, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

She woke me at 2:30am with a constant meowing in the middle of the house. I was sleeping in my La-Z-Boy recliner in the TV room because I'd been snoring pretty badly earlier in the evening and was keeping the wife awake. I'd finally fallen asleep and was deep in slumber when I started to dream about Lucy. I dreamed she was calling to me. The calling was very persistent, so persistent that I woke up to hear her meowing.

For a minute I thought it might have been one of my daughter's cats, but it became clear it was coming from where Lucy normally sleeps.

I got up, grabbed the flashlight, and went stumbling into the front of the house. At first I saw Lucy sitting in the middle of the floor with her hackles up. As I swung the light onto Lucy I saw something white on the floor in front of her. As I got closer, it turned out to be a (now dead) Florida gecko. I don't know how it got in (I have to occasionally trap and release the critters), but Lucy had found this one and had dispatched it to where ever geckos go when killed by cats.

Lucy stopped calling as soon as she saw me, and a minute later the wife came out and took in the scene as well. I picked up Lucy and took her back, while the wife disposed of the gecko's body. I stumbled back to bed, while Lucy sat at the foot of the bed waiting for her mistress. The last thing I saw before falling asleep again was Lucy curled up next to the wife, content that she'd protected the household against an unknown invader.

Update and Corrections

Talked to the wife after getting home, and she clued me in to what Lucy actually did last night (or so she believes).

1. The gecko wasn't dead. Apparently my bright flashlight 'stunned' it into immobility. In any event, it was still alive, and she put it out the front door to scurry off to where ever it is stunned-by-flash-light geckos scurry off to.
2. Lucy was so scared she was hyperventilating. I've never seen a cat hyperventilate before, so I have no idea if Lucy was scared or not. But it was 2:30 am, I was still half asleep, so I guess anything is possible.
3. Later in the day Lucy found another gecko in the house and let the wife know about it. The gecko was dutifully trapped and released outdoors.

I still think Lucy is brave. There's no denying she found something and let us know about it, and waited for some person to get rid of it. Maybe she senses something sinister about geckos that mere humans can't detect. Perhaps she'll clue me in one day.