After a while, Snowball occasionally became a bit calmer and befriended my own cat Sheba. Sheba is small, has only hissed once in all the years I've had her and has a cream colored coat. They would often sit together on the perch I had attached to my windowsill to watch squirrels and catch some rays. Because of Snowball's girth, my cat would get pushed off and end up on the floor. Snowball would look at the situation genuinely confused as to how it had happened; she had the opposite of body issues and imagined herself to be a tiny kitten though she weighed in at almost twenty-five pounds. Hoping to preserve the feline friendship, I decided to make a cat walk of sorts.It consisted of two metal brackets in the middle supporting a board. I put a small blanket on either side and Sheba took to it right away, choosing to sprawl on the far end with the best view of the window. Snowball took a bit more time, but she eventually warmed up to the idea.
One night sitting at my computer writing a paper, I heard Sheba on the shelf as the bell on her collar jangled. A few minutes later, Snowball walked in tepidly and glanced at the shelf. She contemplated it for a while and then decided to jump up. The world went into slow motion and I realized too late, the mechanics of cause and effect. Sheba looked calmly at Snowball as the larger cat sprung towards the shelf As she landed, Sheba went flying through the air all claws and confusion. Under Snowball's substantial weight, the board would-be perch became a combination springboard and see-saw. Snowball thoroughly befuddled, calmly and slowly slid down the shelf and plopped on the floor. Sheba ran down the hall way at full speed and hid in the linen closet. After that Sheba looked at any potential home improvements I made with real suspicion.
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