There is no doubt in my mind that Mimi is a cat trapped in the body of a petite cocker spaniel. This is somewhat problematic for me because I don’t really enjoy cats (the animal and the musical). Before you scoff at the notion that Mimi is in fact a cat, let me give you a list of cat things that she does.
1. Jumping on your face while your sleeping. Check.
2. Randomly nip at your face for no real reason. Check.
3. Stands on the back of the sofa and walks around. Check.
4. Jumps on or off of things with no regard for her own well-being. Check.
5. Has a holier than thou attitude. Ok, this one is no but all the others are there.
I’ve never seen a dog act quite like Ms. Mimi does. Between routinely walking on the back of the couch, jumping up by way of the arm of the couch rather than the MUCH easier and more straightforward way…it’s just all a bit troubling. Why is this so? Well, it stems from my experience as a young, glasses-wearing, straight blonde hair having 6th grader.
Back in the day, mom and pops did not have much money so when the opportunity came for a class trip to Toronto to see Cats, it wasn’t something that was on my radar. My memory isn’t exactly clear on how it came to pass, but somehow, the money was found to send me with my classmates to the big city. I think I didn’t mind the show for the most part but at intermission, our class was invited to go and meet the cast. For whatever reason, this did not strike me as particularly appealing and I initially hung back with the intent of not going at all.
After a few minutes sitting by myself, I decided to go down and see what all the fuss was about. I got there as all the commotion was subsiding and within a few minutes found myself alone with a very sweaty, very large Old Deuteronomy. Against my instinct I decided I should ask for his autograph (since this is what apparently you were supposed to do although it seemed a bit silly to me even at such a young age). Old Deuteronomy looked at me and said, “beat it kid” and walked away.
I returned to my seat and watched the rest of the show. Needless to say I wasn’t upset when Old Deuteronomy died (wait, did I just make that up? Someone dies don’t they? Whatever, it totally didn’t faze me).
In hindsight, this proved to be a great lesson. Actually, two great lessons. One, show business is bullshit (much like other things in life that seem great from the outside) and two, my instincts are generally on point.
