There's A Monster Under My Bed!

When I was a little girl living in Minnesota, the land of 100,000,000,000 mosquitoes, I was pretty convinced that there was a monster under my bed. During the day, the monster lay quietly under my bed while I played happily with my Barbie Dolls and Baby Alive. At night, however, the monster rustled around making noises and waiting for me to jump out of bed so it could grab my ankle and pull me under the bed, never to be seen again! My parents were never able to locate the beast and I had no proof of it's existance except my own keen child perception.
I'm a few years old and now I know without a doubt that there is a monster that lives under my bed.
There are several that will tell you this is a myth; there really is no cat. Few have seen her and to this day she comes and goes as she pleases. She has the markings of a seal point siamese and a tail in the shape of a "z", obviously the evidence of a tragic accident involving a door. She was adopted from the pound after being captured at my place of business. After picking her up at animal control, I took her to the vet to assure her health. The kitten was terrified and when released from the box shot straight up into the air and tried to climb up the wall. The vet, vet technician and I just stared at her for a minute as I have never seen anything like that in my life and we've had lots of cats! They needed a name for the veterinary records and, being reassured that it could be changed later, christened her Monster.
Monster was a study in patience. For the first several week, I only saw evidence of Monster. She was eating, using the litter box and mowing down my live plants. Monster never made an appearance while I was in the house and, I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I had visions of her nestled snugly on my lap on cold winter evenings next to a cozy fire. OK, so I don't own a fire place, but you can dream, right? Monster would not come anywhere near me. After a month or so, she would venture into the living room, but all it took was the blink of an eye and she would scamper back to hiding spot. I learned that when she made a celebrity appearance I just ignored her. It was really hard, but over time her appearances became more frequent and longer in duration.
Christmas came about two months after she joined the household. The tree was assembled and decorated and all was readied for the holiday. I can only imagine Monster's thoughts as she walked into the living room and saw the tree. Perhaps it was something like, "Finally, something I recognize. What a nice gesture! The tree will be just the thing to provide a hiding place from the dog." Monster climbed up the tree and remained there until January. She would pick a nice spot near the top and lay in wait for the next poor soul (person or dog) that would pass by. The unsuspecting victim would walk by and she would leap out at them!
Monster and I have developed some trust and I can actually pet her without holding her down and sedating her. She crawls into bed after the lights are out and curls up next to me. She'll stay there all night, purring and sleeping. Monster is still a stray at heart. She is very scrappy and doesn't buy into any sort of coddling. She'll jump into your lap, purring and nudging against your hand. You think, "Oh, what a sweet kitty" and start to pet her only to be surprised when she turned around and bites at your hand. Then you remember why her name is still Monster.
My mother is fascinated by Monster and want to hold and pet her. Monster doesn't think too much of that; not that my mother has ever caught her. My father wants to know why I can't get a cat that wants to be petted and cuddled. I see the progress that Monster and I have made. I know that Monster will never be a pet at heart. However, I believe that someone needs to love Monster and God has chosen me to be that someone. Sure, she still drives me crazy, especially when I bring fresh flowers into the house and she destroys them in 7.2 seconds. I really dislike how she feeds Halloween lollipops to the puppy (no, I'm not kidding!). I'm not real keen on her digging in my purse for the pens to carry around in her mouth. But she's my Monster and her place is under my bed!