Frobbit House
Igreja Nova, Portugal 2024
The role of Duke of FrobbitShire comes with far more responsibilities than I thought, including supervising the resident human staff and ensuring that all runs according to my wishes. It seems that the previous Duchess was rather lax in her governance, so I have changed a few things around here. For starters, I don’t share my meals with any other felines. When I am served indoors, everyone else is ushered out and served al fresco. Lady Warbles and her children don’t mind, and the children are far more comfortable, and can eat with the leniency afforded to the young, especially when they unable to sit politely in my distinguished company. I have tried to teach them some etiquette but they don’t seem ready for such lessons, and in the meantime their uncles and father insist on passing on the uncouth countryside ways. I shall not insist, or perhaps try again when they are a little older. There are more important matters to attend to in the Dukedome.
Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoy my role as ruling feline among the royal ranks once again. Nobody questions me or attempts to block my path. They all respect the title. Recollections of my past life are coming back and I remember what a safe life was like, the security of a roof over my head, and a guaranteed meal. My human has learned to communicate with me and understands when I share some of my memories with her. Other humans refer to this as being animal communicator and requires some training on their part, but it makes things so much easier on us to be understood properly. Humans talk and talk to us expecting some magical reaction but we don’t really understand their words. We communicate on very different planes, and it is rare that we will react to human words, which leads to a lot of misunderstandings. Animal communication is often mislabeled as being an animal psychic, it is simply establishing an inter-species language that both sides understand and can agree on that operates on quid pro quo. We are very interested in receiving human information as well in an effort to understand their strange ways better. So yes, we are curious and often times confused, in need of clarification – something that apparently humans get very wrong among themselves.
Animal communication is not some magic or mystical spell, and what humans often fail to understand is that if and when we open up the channels of communication between our world and theirs, we don’t communicate in words like humans do. We transmit images and emotions, what we’ve seen and felt, and it is up to the human to piece the information together. My human usually communicates with me after my daily Reiki session, when I am more inclined to share or receive information. Like humans, we are not always in the mood to communicate, and depending on our personality, will respond in single images, short and to the point.
Emotionally I am not ready to share my entire story of how I ended up in the FrobbitShire, but I was willing to show my human that I used to live in a yellow house by the great waters, which is why I had difficulties adjusting to the forests and hills. But being part of a household again is helping me overcome my trauma one day at a time and we’ve made great strides in our relationship over the past weeks. Hugs and pats from my human are no long cause to be fearful and each time she stretches her hand out I understand that it is done so lovingly and she is not going to beat me, like others have done in the past. It is also acceptable to ask for cuddles and insist that she drop everything and focus all her attention on me (OK, maybe I’m just being a demanding royal here, but when it comes to affection I feel there is a lot to catch up on). Furthermore, I do not hesitate to reprimand the human when she dilly dallies around the manor and fails to serve my meals forthwith.
Speaking of food, I must confess to some newly acquired tastes in my new diet that I rather enjoy. Peanut butter (the homemade kind that is around the manor), marmite on toast and pancakes, any variation of cheese, chicken and fish are among the top favourites. It is a far cry from my days of scrounging for meals among the garbage, so I won’t complain about peculiar new smells that emerge from the kitchen.
I am a cultured Duke who enjoys classical, jazz and New Age music. I prefer silence when I nap, but the appropriate background music during my massage is a must. Apparently I am now a Catholic cat as well, because I sit with my human during morning mass and her other prayer time. Who knew!
Wherever this finds you, I bid you a good day. May the morrow bring good tidings.
Meowingly yours,
Reddington, Duke of FrobbitShire
Related entry: The Duke’s Journal: Pilot Episode
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