A Day in the Life of Mo

Written by Gatsby

At nine-thirty in the morning, I, the Great Gatsby with my flowing black mane and pearly white fangs, get tired of waiting for Morven to get up, so I pounce on their chest.  If this doesn’t work the first time, then I do it multiple times from different heights.  My current record is jumping from the top of the curtains onto my sleeping, unsuspecting owner.

Then, I get breakfast.  And that’s the highlight of my day; well, that and dinner, of course.

Buddha, the other cat in the house, usually refuses to eat the wet-food breakfast that Morven gives us, so Morven puts it back up on the counter.  I ask repeatedly for it, but alas, Morven has other things to do.

I tear up the house for bit, until I ‘accidentally’ pounce on Morven while they’re working on their artwork (something ‘important’ called Themensha) in the living room.  In my defense, I feel like I have to check on them because they just sit there for hours working on their tablet.  My methods may be impractical, but it makes sure that Morven is still alive.  What would I do without Morven to feed me?

At two in the afternoon – I told you they sit there forEVER – they get up and make themself some food.  I can’t believe that Morven waits that long to eat, but I guess that just means more food for me.  They make something on the stove, usually rice and greens; things that I don’t like in the least.  At most, I’ll lick the greens once soaked in soy sauce, but it’s really not my thing. But, when they eat their lunch, I get the rest of Buddha’s breakfast.  I guess lunch is a highlight, too.

From then on, Morven stays in office nook.  It’s supposed to be a breakfast nook, but it has a desk and printer and all of the bills and papers that I’m not supposed to shred.  Sometimes I do anyway, just to spice things up.  Morven peruses Facebook, watches videos of other cats – TRAITOR, and tries to keep the outside world up-to-date on what’s happening in our home.  Most of the updates are pictures of me and pictures of their projects.

Sometimes, Morven opens the front door while they sit in the office nook.  That means I get to explore outside; well, I explore the porch mostly.  The outside is kinda scary.  That’s probably why my owner stays home so much. Sometimes, Morven comes out on the porch with their tablet to do their social media updates or drawing outside, but one time they got really red from being in the sun, so they don’t do that much anymore.

Other times, I scream at Morven and claw at their legs until they pick me up into their lap or up onto the windowsill-shelf above the desk.  Then I can either sleep in the sun or watch them type or stare at birds.  It’s nice up there, lots of room for me, and Morven always tucks me back up when I’m about to roll off the side.  They’re really considerate like that.

Around five-thirty, we go inside, close the door, and start with dinner.  Morven makes more rice and vegetables or maybe some ramen noodles.  I inspect all of it; I have to make sure that they aren’t using up food that could be mine.  Honestly, though, Morven does a good job of eating only the things I don’t like, leaving all the meat for me! (And Buddha.)

After dinner, Morven gets their tablet again and settles in to live stream for the night.  They draw a lot.  I wish they drew me more, but my awesomeness is difficult to capture with merely two-dimensional media.  Sometimes we watch movies or animes, but Morven still draws when we do.

Around eleven-thirty, Morven puts the tablet down and tells me it’s almost time for bed.  Buddha’s already gone to bed; she’s older and has an earlier bedtime than I do.  Morven does exercises and stretches to help them get ready for bed.  I don’t like them; I’d rather they just go to bed.

And at midnight, we trot into the bathroom.  I hop up on the counter to supervise, while Morven brushes their teeth and washes their face.  Then, another highlight of my day, they get ten treats out of the jar.  Buddha gets her five treats first, it’s so unfair.  Buddha never checks to see if Morven is alive in the middle of the day. But, whatever, then I get mine.

Morven goes to bed.  

Then it starts all over again the next day!

Check out more about Morven’s newest project, Themensha, a graphic novel written and drawn in memory of their grandmother to bring dementia and alzheimer’s awareness to a younger audience.  You can watch them stream the process on their Twitch or support the Kickstarter.

And to see more of me, the Great Gatsby, check out Morven’s Instagram or Facebook pages. Continue reading →