Wyeth and Winslow were bumfuzzled.
The Tortie cat sisters’ master was on the back deck wielding a menacing-looking contraption that “hissssssed” loudly as it spat out water that then bounced off the floor boards and created a dense mist.
Side by side the girls sat inside the closed sliding deck door, trying to figure out what this thing he called “power washing” was all about. Strange, you could almost hear them think, that as the water went down, the color of the deck changed right before their eyes.
Back and forth, forth and back, their master went for more than two hours. Finally, The Great Hissssssing Machine fell silent. The deck door opened. And Wyeth and Winslow cautiously began to explore.
But the next day, “Dad” was back on the deck. And, again, the door was closed. Only this time the cats noted he was half sitting, half lying on the deck, putting this hairy thing with a handle into a bucket, then transferring a clover-brown liquid to the floor boards, making an odd swishing motion while magically restoring color to the wood.
Forth and back, back and forth, their master went, and for nearly four hours. Finally, he was up against the sliding door and had to open it to complete the job. He shooed away the kitties to prevent them from stepping onto the freshly stained deck. Then, half in the door and half out, and on all fours, he finished the job.
But not before Wyeth hopped onto his back to get a better view.
“Don’t you dare jump onto that deck,” his master warned.
“Meow,” Wyeth responded in apparent understanding, then taking time to offer a friendly nibbling of “Dad’s” ear before retreating to her observation post.
Days later, all the hissssssing and swishing done, the deck was dry. Down went the all-weather rug and, atop it, the deck furniture. Unfurled was the retractable awning.
And Wyeth and Winslow quickly assumed their positions on one of the chair’s thick cushions so conducive to mutual grooming and sisterly slumbers.
Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
