The big brown Labrador shook her head causing her short, yet still floppy, ears to flail around sending dust motes skittering into the air.   With a stretch and a bound she landed on the soft mattress, waves from the impact rippled across the bed disturbing two sleeping cats as the waves floated by.  From the bed, the dog had a clear panoramic view of the bedroom, which was spartan in design, only two nightstands and a shared dresser made up the décor.  Sunlight drifted in through the slots in the blinds contributing to the heat of the late august morning, despite the circling blades of the white fan that hung suspended from the ceiling.  The lab rotated in a small circle a couple of times before lazily and not so gracefully collapsing into a heap at the corner of the bed.

“Hey Cindee,” the small black and white tuxedo cat spoke in a high pitched nasally tone, sounding much like Fran Drescher would on an old episode of The Nanny.

Hey Yehudi.”

The room fell into a familiar awkward silence.  It had a lot to do with the other cat on the bed, the grey and white cat called Bella.  She was very photogenic, and any visiting human that came to the house fell in love with her, thinking she was just the cutest thing, but Cindee and the other cats knew that it was all just a show, a sham put on in front of the human as an attention grab.  When it was just the four of them, Bella tended to keep to herself.  Sure, she would hang out with the gang from time to time, but really, she looked down her nose at them.  Yehudi was sure that somewhere in her family history Bella must have come from the “upper class” because of her deep commitment to snobbery.

“Byeeeeeeeeee” Daddy called from downstairs

“Byeeeeeeeee,” we all answered in the same goofy tone.

The door clicked shut, and moments later a large orange cat strolled into the room.  At first glance he seemed pretty imposing, but as he drew closer you could see his face was round, filled with chubby cheeks, and his white tummy was swimming from side to side with each step that he took.  He hopped up onto the bed, the shockwave almost as big as the one that was set off by the brown dog.

“Daddy left?” Yehudi asked the orange cat, her whiskers twitching, and her left eye half closed, looking every bit the red laser dot addict that she was.

“He’s gone,” Rapi answered matter of factly while curling into a ball on the one corner of the bed that was still unoccupied.

“Oh, he will be back,” Cindee added skeptically.

Again, silence descended with Cindee, Yehudi and Rapi all staring at Bella, who to her credit, glanced out the window, hoping to diffuse a tense situation.

“Oh, I heard this knock knock joke,” Cindee broke the silence with a giggle.

“Hey Bella, knock knock,” the brown dog said with a smile, trying to pull the grey and white cat into the conversation.

“whose there?” she replied brightly.

“Cat!” the lab shouted.

“Cat who?” Bella said, her forehead scrunched up, an expression of deep thought covering her face.

“Bless you!” Cindee barked out.  The room filled with laughter.  Even Bella let down her guard and was squeaking with joy.

Creak! The front door opened downstairs.  Cindee lept to her feet and was about to warn Mommy that someone was here but stopped when she caught a familiar scent.

“It’s just me, I forgot my lunch,” Daddy called out.  They all listened to the commotion of Daddy as he retrieved his box and ran for the door.

“Byeeeeeeeeeeee” he sang with such happiness that you would scarcely know he was going to work, closing the door behind him on his way out.

Our furry friends sat quietly on the bed listening to the car door close, then pull away.

“See, I told you,” Cindee reminded them.  Giggling and snickering broke out again then like everything, it eventually died down.  A hush began to settle over the house, the only sounds that could be heard were the clicking of Mommy’s fingers tapping away on the computer keyboard and the sparrows and robins singing a lullibye outside the bedr’oom window, until at last all four of our friends drifted off into a deep summer nap.