Tale #19 -- Sleeping In

"Dancing Bear! Wake up!" Bandit scratched on the door. "Dancing Bear! Get up! I'm starving!"

Dancing Bear opened her eyes and looked at the alarm clock beside her bed. It was after 9:30!

"Oh dear!" Dancing Bear said. "I slept in. No wonder Bandit is hungry."

Every morning, David McDougall fed the cats at 7:30 before going to work in the computer room of the plywood factory. This morning, he was late.

"Didn't Doug feed you?" Dancing Bear asked the cats as she walked down the stairs into the basement.

"No," Oreo said. "He's sleeping in. This is Saturday. He has the day off."

Dancing Bear put some kitty kibble into the cats' bowls. She rinsed the water dishes and filled them with fresh water.

"Can we have some canned food as well, please?" Bandit asked.

"You know that's bad for your teeth," Dancing Bear said.

"Pretty please?" Bandit asked, arching his back and rubbing himself against Dancing Bear's leg.

"I'll tell Doug when he gets up, and he can decide," Dancing Bear said. She went upstairs and made some coffee.

David McDougall came out of his room in his pyjamas. "Wow -- that smells good!"

"Would you like me to make you some bacon and eggs while you are taking your shower?" Dancing Bear asked.
"Not yet," David McDougall said. "Give me time to wake up." He poured himself a cup of coffee, added lots of cream and sugar, and sat in his special chair in the living room.

Dancing Bear sat down in her chair with a cup of steaming coffee with a little honey. "I'm so tired," she told David McDougall. "I take naps all the time, and I sleep in later and later. It's time for me to go back to my cave and hibernate."

David McDougall looked sad. "The cats will miss you," he said.