Pets

When I was a little kid, I was used to having pets wandering all around the house: we had dogs, cats, puppies, kittens...ok, not a lot of variety, but still a lot of pets! When I moved to Belo Horizonte, living in an apartment wasn't exactly the ideal environment for a dog or a cat, and also my mom wasn`t really happy about the idea. I really wanted a cat, but I soon gave up, knowing that I would never win the argument with her. In "my American house" both of my host-parents are very fond of animals and they have two nice kitties: Harley, a big male cat who is the sweetest and calmest cat in the world; and Portia, a slim and gracious female cat with a peculiar character. I happen to get along with both them: Harley is just the nicest cat, so that he gets along with practically everybody; Portia is sort of a difficult cat who chooses accurately (and based on only God knows what parameters) the people whom she is going to be friendly with. I happen to be in her graces and I get along pretty well with her...she meows at me to call my attention, she snuggles with me when she`s lonely, she licks, sniffs and kisses me when I pet her. This morning I realized how much I love these cats...and how smart they are. Yesterday Harley spent the whole evening in my bedroom and I thought he would like to spend the night there, too. When it was time to go to bed, though, I couldn't find him anywhere, so I decided to sleep by myself. This morning, at around 6, Harley started to scratch my bedroom door, I opened it and he came inside. I went back to sleep and I realized he jumped on my bed too. Then he came up to me and, with his paw, started to nudge me: hello, hello, wake up.... Since I was trying to sleep, I didn't do anything. Seeing that I wasn't responding to his nudges, with his paw he started touching my cheek...it was so funny :) I really had to wake up...ut I`ve never been waken up by a cat before... The funniest thing, though, is that after I got up he lay on my bed, exactly in the same place where I was lying before he made me get up!! He practically stole my place :P