Dreams of summer; dreams of socks

I have turned the heat off in my apartment, and I'm determined to keep it that way. There's too much sunshine and promise of warmth outside to justify keeping windows shut and breathing dry recycled air.

BUT. This does not mean that my toes understand "promise of heat." They are freezing; they are recalcitrant icicles. The rest of me is warm, why not those ten?

Luckily I keep two obliging kittens handy, and these kittens are laptop lovers. I push open my laptop's lid and press the 'on' button...the gentle whir of the processor brings MeeraKai running. Meera will linger at the opposite end of the cushions; Kai will hover behind my head on the back of the couch. The next moment they're both crowding close. Then we'll suffer together through ten minutes of "nooooo, sweetie, don't put your paw on the keyboard," and "noooo, purrball, don't scrape your claws along the screen."

This is especially hard for Meera, my technophile. She sees everything. She sees the shifting logo in the browser's upper-right corner...she sees words as they're typed on screen...she sees pictures as they download (sooo slooowly...damn dial-up!)...she sees this tiny blinking cursor!! And she wants it all. She keeps her tiny front paws delicately balanced on the edge of the keyboard, and tries to contain herself, really she does, but even so, I find myself removing her paw from one spot or another. Sometimes we'll wind up in an uncomfortable compromise. Her back paws will balance on the cushion next to me. Her front elbows will be cradled in my hand, about level with the screen. She can't paw at anything that way, so she settles in and just watches. I type one-handed.

But eventually they get tired of me pushing them off and pushing them away, and they cozy in close, carefully turning their heads away so as not to be tempted. So here is...well, from this angle I can't tell which is which. I think this is Meera on my right, warming my thighs. And I think this is Kai on my left, draped across my toes.

My newly warm, snuggled, toasty toes...