The Battle for the Throne

For years there has been a hierarchy in this house, and I have not been at the top of it.  Nor, in case you are wondering, has my husband.  The undisputed ruler has been a 10 pound cat named for an obscure Dallas-based rapper named Tum Tum (if you try and Google him, about all you'll find is an .mp3 file and a reference to him as one of the 120 worst named rappers).

Tum Tum came to live with us in 2008, a stand-offish, co-dependent delicate creature who loved and tolerated only one other being on this planet, my oldest daughter.  While she will never love anyone like she did her original human, I think she's grown fond of us, the way a boss can love her staff.  But it took some time to even get her to come downstairs to interact with us at first.  Originally, of course, our chaotic world would seem intimidating for a cat who's used to being the only child.  She moved into a home with eight dogs and another cat who just assumed he was one of the pack.  That's a lot to contend with.  My youngest daughter's boyfriend at the time was the one who finally got her to make an appearance into the living room.  He's a young male version of a crazy cat lady.  And she clearly, starved for affection all alone on the second floor, mourning the loss of her life as a single animal, recognized that in him, and stole down one night while we were all watching a movie and sat with him for a while.  I remember sitting next to him on the couch, trying not to move so that I wouldn't scare her off.  It seems odd to think of that now.  She's not that same cat in many, many ways.

For one, once she decided that Downstairs was not going to devour her and she realized that The Woman Who Feeds Me (me) spent most of her time down there, she crept down more and more often.  And at some point she just made up her mind that this is her life now, might as well make the most of it and take control.  And control it she has.

Queens go where they want and do what they want - even if it means ruining your
formal meal or co-opting your opening your present

Over time, her nine lives - trust me, she's tested just how many lives she's got a few times - have outlasted the original eight dogs, and she was able to raise a new pack to suit her.   Geddy and Rooney are completely intimidated by her.  Rooney, who is a dainty, polite dog to begin with, has never tested Tum Tum's authority, but Geddy has.  Many times.  And he's lost that battle every time.  He might be a slow learner, but he learned, and he was cautious around her.  And she liked that.  And liked reminding him of his place.  Often.

Her favorite pastime was to take up position on one of the stair cases, sitting smack dab in the middle of it to where no one, man nor beast, could get by without skirting her, and just stare at the dogs daring them to try it.  And my two big dogs who each outweigh her at least five times over would just hover at whatever end of the stairs they were on and whine, refusing to brave the gauntlet.  I would watch her manipulate these two large beasts and realize she was badly mis-named.  Cersei would have suited her far better.

But she's met a challenger in Sirius.  Maybe because he's too young to realize he's supposed to be scared, but Geddy was once that young and naive too, and she trained him well enough.  Maybe Sirius is just more hard headed and won't learn, but all her hissing as he approaches, all her laying in wait and then pouncing when he walks by, all her efforts to impede his path and glower darkly at him have done nothing but entice him to engage.  And watching this, Geddy seems to have channeled his inner Theon Greyjoy and found the courage to join in...just so long as Sirius is out front, that is.  Sirius seems to think she's just a large stuffed toy that exists to be chased.  And he good-naturedly does.  If she unsheathes her claws and tries to swat at him, but for him it's part of the game and he deftly dodges her and then thinks its his turn to do the same.

I honestly thought the Queen might have been dethroned.  She rarely sleeps with me anymore - that's actually more Geddy's doing actually.  He guards his place on the bed against all comers.  I've left the dog crate up in my office, even though Sirius hasn't used it since summer and put her cat bed in there so she can lounge in comfort and the dogs can only watch from outside the bars.  I haven't seen her take up a position on the stairs in weeks.

They never hurt one another in case you're worried- Sirius isn't playing for keeps, he's just playing, and she's really too fast for him anyway.  But she's miffed at his failure to comply, so she's been in pout mode for months.

But one does not become Queen with a faint heart.  She decided this morning to take her kingdom back from the usurper and ventured down from my office.   She took up a position on the kitchen table, then under it and put on her best Glower Face.  The dogs seemed intrigued, but I was there, so they couldn't test her resolve, so they just stared at one another.  After a while she retreated back to my office where she's sitting on her throne (my desk chair), so she's had her fill for the day, I have a feeling the next few days/weeks could be very interesting indeed...  Well, it's fitting I guess...isn't the final showdown in Westeros going to take place in the winter as well?

Reclaiming one's thrown means venturing into enemy territory sometimes.