Originally uploaded by bjortklingd

The February Peanut Show

I keep a bag of peanuts in a shopping bag on a chair in the kitchen for the squirrels and blue jays. Early in the morning I take a fistful and open the slider wide enough to fit my fist through. I need to make sure the cats don’t slip out and I don’t drop the peanuts too soon. I throw the peanuts onto the deck and my son and I watch them roll across the snow and ice. Our three cats press their noses to the cold slider and wait for the peanut show. It lasts only a few minutes, longer if I throw out more peanuts. The cats shiver a bit, their tails swooshing back and forth on the floor. The sounds of a dozen pigeons taking flight from the rooftop rises from their throats as if the cats were dreaming in reverse.