Poom is a 16 year old black cat and he is “mentally challenged” due to a parasite that was in his brain. He’s a fun cat and has lots of interesting things happen to him. We’ll be following his journey through life through a series of short stories.

This is just a brief introduction to Poom and his quirky personality.

One of Poom’s favorite things to do is to snuggle up under blankets. He likes it when a blanket or sheet is draped over a chair, making a little tent for him to snuggle up in. He’s even been known to climb up under the sheet/blanket and get comfy.

He has a small teddy bear that he carries around in his mouth, meowing a pitiful meow until he finds me. If I am out of the house, he will roam the house like this for about an hour.

Poom tends to be terrified of nearly everything, and when scared, his tail will poof up as though it’s full of static. It’s really a sight to see.

Poom and the Pokemon Blanket

One afternoon, Poom lumbered into the living room and over to his favorite Pokemon blanket which was draped over the edge of the chair. Instead of getting under it, he decided to lie on it as he needed a bath and this was the perfect spot for it. He cleaned his tail and his back paws and was quite satisfied with them. Moving on to his belly and then his front paw, he felt secure and relaxed in his nice, safe spot.

“Well, this is just a perfect day,” Poom thought to himself. “So relaxing and peaceful, just me and my master and my blankie, ” Poom thought as he moved on to his right paw to clean it but something wasn’t right. He couldn’t lift his paw! Something was keeping him from moving his paw. “Oh, no! What is happening?” Poom frantically tried to move his paw. It was the blankie! The blankie had him in its grip and wouldn’t let him go.

He jumped and spun around. He pulled and flipped but no matter what he did, that blankie wouldn’t let him go. He ran towards it, nothing. He ran away from it at full speed and it let go! But, he was running too fast to avoid hitting the fireplace. He jumped and did an acrobatic move to try to avoid the fireplace but he slammed into it anyway. The noise scared him so he ran some more!

Not watching where he was going, he headed toward the blankie at full speed. Just before running onto the blankie, he stopped. Remembering the horror of the dreaded attack blankie, Poom gingerly sniffed at it. He stretched his neck as far as it would let him and sniffed. No evil scent reached his nostrils so he moved closer. Stretching as far as he could without falling forward, Poom investigated his favorite blankie. It was just at this moment that the blankie shifted, causing Poom to jump, spin around mid-air and poof himself to look intimidating to this new foe.

Feeling deflated by the new foe, and with his fur poofed in such a way that looked like he had a run in with a statically charged balloon, Poom flopped onto the floor and slept like only a cat can.

Poom doth Come with Pokes

Most should be familiar with the dreaded Facebook poke. At one time, there were Superpokes where one could throw a cow or chicken. Well, Poom also has pokes.

4am. It’s quiet and dark throughout the house. Too quiet. Click..click..click, we hear the patter of tiny paws upon the kitchen floor. They stop at the food bowl.

“Nom nom time,” Poom thinks as he stops at his food dish. He sniffs and can smell the scent of food, but what’s this!?! Empty! The dish is empty save for a few crumbs. “I shall starve! What shall I do! OMG,” he paces, getting more frantic.

Click..click..click throughout the kitchen and then silence. He has made it, stealthily to the mistresses bed. She sleeps, oblivious to his plight. Wait. Is she sleeping? He hears her breathing. He watches for movement. None. Sitting on the floor at the side of her bed, he watches for even the slightest movement.

There! She moved her arm. She’s waking up! He shall get food he thinks as he gingerly runs back to his food bowl..click..click…..and stops before he reaches the bowl. She’s not following. He turns and makes his way back to the bed, and deciding that he needs a closer inspection, he jumps up next to her.

Sleeping. She’s still sleeping. “OMG, what if she never wakes!” Poom is frantic. He carefully sniffs her nose. She’s alive, he’s sure of it as his wet nose touches her face and she moves just a tad. This calls for drastic measures to rouse her from this never ending sleep, for her own safety.

So he pokes her cheek. Just a quick, light tap. Nothing. Nothing happens. He pokes again, a little harder and she stirs just a tad. Having found the way to awaken the mistress from her slumber, he pokes her cheek repeatedly. POKE…POKE…POKE..POKE POKE POKE POKE and she’s up! Thank the Lords she’s up. She mutters some words he doesn’t understand, something about a damned cat and what the hell are you doing at 4am, but these mean nothing to him.

He bounds off the bed and into the kitchen to his food bowl, knowing she will follow as it’s the most important thing and she knows he’ll starve if he’s not fed right away. But…wait..she does not follow. He sees a light from within the bedroom and runs in just as the door to the dreaded “water room” closes.

NO! She’s braving the water room without him. How could she? How could she bar him from the room? She knows he always accompanies her into that room, to protect her from the dreaded roll of paper and to open the curtains opposite her throne in order to give her a view of the people that live next door. He knows how she loves that as she always sings high notes when he does it.

Wait. He can see under the door. EUREKA! He shall protect her from his position here. He hears her in the water box and just before it, a rug has fallen in her path. What if she trips as she leaves the water box? She could fall and then wouldn’t be able to get his food. Well, he can’t have that, so he reaches. He reaches his paws in and almost snags the offending rug. After a few tries, he snags it in his claws and pulls. The rug moves toward the door and then he loses his grip so he tries a few more times and snags it again. This time, he pulls with all his might and gets the corner of the rug under the door. Just as his mistress comes out of the box, he finishes pulling the rug nearly all the way out of the water room. She must be so proud and happy with him as she again sings in high notes. He’s very pleased with himself. He’ll be sure to get a treat today!

The mistress, dressed and awake, says words to him as she comes out of the water room but he’s too happy to listen and doesn’t understand human speak anyway so he simply runs to his bowl. She follows and goes to the food closet to get his food. This pleases him so much that he rubs against her legs as she walks. She must be pleased too as she does her dance and bounds toward his bowl, singing all the while. He hears his name in this song and it pleases him. He also hears the jingle of his food in his bowl. NOM NOM time!

Poom and the Lizard

It was a warm autumn afternoon and Poom was lazy. He plopped himself down at the big sliding barrier in the kitchen, wishing someone would make it open so he could run out and eat the yummy grass. He was bored..he was hungry..he wanted to be out with the smells and grass and…

Something caught his attention. Movement from above. Looking up he saw a bug. No, wait, it wasn’t a bug. A bird? No too small for one of those. Oh no. Can’t be. Can it? It is! A lizard has come into the house and is within reach.

Poom got ready. Tail swishing back and forth, concentration fixed on the lizard. He was a stealth cat. A ninja cat. No one could see him, especially not his prey. He purred laughter. He waited for just the right moment to pounce. Up he jumped, ever so graceful, he crashed into the blinds and this confounded invisible barrier. The lizard teased him, mocked him from just outside the barrier.

He wanted it. That lizard was his and he would find a way through this barrier.

Several more times he jumped. Each time, he would get wound up in the blinds. Confounded pieces of material that humans put here just to vex the cat. He knew it was a conspiracy. That and this barrier. No matter how many times he sniffed it, sneezed on it, pawed and clawed, it never wavered in its intensity, keeping him in his prison. The mistress would come and wipe it, making it nearly invisible again and it took many hours for him to get it back to a visible state. He had to do that though, otherwise he would forget it was there and go crashing into it in his attempt to get to the heavenly grass or birds or LIZARDS!

Oh yeah. The lizard. He looked up once more to find the lizard.

Awww, forget it. I’ll just go get my bear. At least it won’t run from me or vex me.