Neighborhood Cat

There's a friendly, grey cat that roams around the neighborhood during the day. She nestles up to everyone that walks by her, and a few times she (successfully) snuck into my house when I opened the door and made herself at home.

A few days ago, she was sitting on the sidewalk, looking at a mother and her two daughters who were a few feet away. The Mom was panicky and had her arms around her children. "Stay back! Don't go near it!"

The cat cocked her head. The Mom realized it would take a valiant effort to protect her daughters from the ferocious beast. "Shoot, cat! Shoo!"

No response. Now before I give the conclusion to this story, I have to say that I have no idea why the cat's presence triggered a neurotic reaction. Or why, if the cat was so threatening, she and her daughters didn't "think outside the box" and walk around the cat.

Perhaps this was her first encounter with a feline. It would explain why, when "Shoo!" didn't work, she stepped towards the cat, raised her arms like a bear, and yelled, "DOG!"

I was watching this from across the street. It took me a few seconds to laugh because first I had to process the thought, "Did she just try to scare a cat away by yelling 'dog'?" Then, after a moment's reflection, the sweet realization of "Oh yes she did."

Any cat that would actually be scared by the threat of an imaginary dog would have a peculiar intelligence: smart enough to understand human language, yet dumb enough to be tricked by a childish ploy. A cat that would be able to get her paws in a finger trap, but not be able to get them out.

Eventually, the cat gave up on them and walked away. But she made sure to wait several seconds so the Mom wouldn't think it was because she was scared of the "dog".