How naive of me -- I didn't take the dinner shenanigans the other night
seriously...

Tonight I made a beef roast for DH, knowing he'd had a long week, and, yes,
I admit I was looking forward to it as well -- been eating a lot of "energy
bar" meals on the fly this week.  Celeste is ill with a bad cold so I agreed
to let her eat her dinner in the den on the sofa, so I go to take her food
to her...

Yes, I did tell DH before I left the table to watch the cats and not let
them "help themselves."  My plate was still on the counter along with a
slice of beef -- in close proximity lay the roasting pan with leftovers...

I leave the room...

Only for a few seconds...

I come back to DH chasing Omar off the table while Midnight (!!) has
daintily snagged a piece of meat off the roast with her paw and is
addressing it with gusto....I said, "Byron!" and arched my eyebrow over to
the counter and he retorted, "But I was getting Omar..."

"Midnight!!!" I say in an accusatory voice...before I can get another word
out...there goes that paw again! I forgot myself, folks, and slapped
(lightly, I must add) her paw lightly while I took the roast pan off the
counter.  She was incensed and hissed at me...I was incensed and I hissed
back (can't believe I did that, neither could DH who was cracking up). I
looked her straight in the eye, took up the roast pan protectively and
firmly said, "Mine!"

Was she remorseful -- h*ll, no!  I turned to DH for commiseration, not howls
of laughter, mind you...and
Midnight's paw was laden with a scrap of roast from MY plate!

She hissed at me!! I took MY plate and sat down at the table, finally, after
applying the 10-second kitty rule contamination rule and deciding that I'd
better eat before I lost more to "THE PAW."

In the end, she got me back as I knew she would -- Middie is smart and
vindictive and found a new place to anoint HER property (DH's countertop in
our bedroom)...sigh, sometimes I think I single-handedly support those cat
enzyme cleaner companies and Bounty paper towels.

Stay tuned...I'm sure there will be a round 3...

Christine