The little cat made itself at home, flopping into a furry “u” shape, tail curled up across its back legs. It licked each paw, back and front. One eye always seemed to stray to Sugar as she scrubbed the kitchen floor by hand. The cat turned partway on its back and blurted out a sighing note of contentment.
“I wish I could be that lazy,” Sugar told her guest. “This house always needs more cleaning. It never stops. I don’t dare let up, you know. Oscar is always one step away from kicking me out the door. Then what would I do? This is all I know how to do. And who would want a lame sister who couldn’t even do something so simple as please her man? My mother would be ashamed of me.”
Sugar carried the bucket of dirty water out to the downstairs bathroom where she dumped it down the toilet. She tore off a few squares of toilet paper to wipe up the drops that escaped. She noticed how she had torn the paper in a jagged swath. She groaned and took up the length of the roll in her hands. She found the perforation nearest the last piece and used it to separate the ragged end from the rest. Again, the last piece made an asymmetrical shape. She sighed and repeated the process until she had an even end to the roll.
In the doorway, the little cat cocked its head one way and then another.
“Yes, it does seem silly, doesn’t it?” Sugar said. “You’d be surprised what a difference a detail like that makes, though.”
Sugar folded the end of the roll to a point and then laughed through her nose at the result. “That’s certainly too much.” She undid the point and returned the empty bucket to the hall closet.
The little cat surprised Sugar as she turned back, causing her to squeal. Now the toilet paper had been unrolled and described a trail through the hall. The cat dropped the end of the roll at Sugar’s feet and made a well-rounded “Meow.”
Sugar snatched the paper away and scurried back to the bathroom. “Bad kitty! You better hope this flushes all the way down.”
The cat chased after the loose tail of the paper and tore some away, rolling in it.
Sugar ripped off the paper and pulled as much of it as she could get away from the cat towards herself. She stuffed the lot down the toilet and flushed. She examined the edge of the last sheet on the roll. “Crooked again!” This time she produced a straight rip on the first try.
Sugar turned back to her visitor. The cat lay on its back, feet in the air, tugging and chewing at a ball of toilet paper.
“Well,” she said. “If I didn’t know before, I sure know now. You have to get out of this house, kitty. I wonder how serious that old woman next door was when she said she’d ‘be there’ for me.”
