Would you like a quick laugh . . . a laugh at my expense?As you know, I wear glasses. They have become so much a part of me that I would feel strange without them. They are the first thing I put on in the morning, and the last thing I remove before getting into bed. At night they sit on the dressing-table, ready to give focus to the new day from the moment I get up.
That is the intention. That is how life has been until this morning. This morning I was awoken, as usual, by Chloe kissing my nose. I would like to think that this abrasive and enthusiastic gesture arises purely out of affection. I suspect that it is also a cunning way of rousing me from sleep in order to prepare her breakfast!
She kissed my nose . . . I kissed her nose . . . everything was happy and equable until I swung my legs out of the bed and groped for my glasses. My searching hand covered the entire surface of the dressing-table . . . it went to the chair (just in case, in an absent-minded moment, I had put them there) . . . it went to the table that held the radio. It was no good, grope as I might,
there were nothing to reward my outstretched fingers. The glasses were not there and the only possible culprit was Chloe.I have grown quite capable of sleeping through her night-time frolics. Could she, I wondered, have discovered my glasses in the early hours and seen their potential as a new toy? It was more than probable that she had, but the situation left me in a quandary.
How could I, without the aid of my glasses, find my glasses?
I looked at Chloe, now resting in the chair. She rolled onto her back, gazed at me from guileless blue eyes and vocally proclaimed her innocence.
Not that I believed a word of it.
Down on my knees, I peered myopically under the bed, no discernible glasses. I looked under the cupboard . . . it was all a bit of a blur, but no part of the blur looked familiar. Chloe, entering into the spirit of this new game, got down from the chair and did her best to be helpful . . . which only added to the difficulty!
It was then that I remembered. Several years previously, when I'd purchased my current glasses, I'd put the old ones away for safe keeping.
Blurry-eyed, but determined, I fumbled through drawers and cupboards and (Eureka!) finally tracked them down. With my old glasses firmly in place, it took no time to discover the lost ones wedged tightly beneath a chair where Chloe had abandoned them. One pair of glasses . . . slightly cat-chewed but perfectly functional.Where will my glasses spend the nights in future?
That's right . . . well away from probing paws, safely in a drawer!
As for Chloe, well . . . if she misses her chewable new toy she can always enjoy midnight antics in the bathroom!
