Kako is undoubtedly the least trusting member of The Kids.  That is due in no small part to her being the only female and the smallest in the mix.

I also believe it to be a response to her extremely distrusting attitude toward everyone save Grendel, her man.  She’s even more certain of his disposition than she is of mine.

So it stems from that attitude this brief series of photos I took while she lay peacefully in the bedroom one afternoon.  I readily accepted that she wanted to take a nap, and that was evidenced by her cuddling up with a toy next to the piles of laundry I was working on.

Despite her inherent trust of me, however, she couldn’t help but take a quick peek when I entered the room, knelt down in front of her, and snapped my first photo.

Once she realized I intended no harm, she closed her eyes.

But I knew she was not trying to go to sleep.  It was a pretense only, an attempt to lull me into a false sense of comfort.

So long as I remained near, she continued glancing surreptitiously—almost always with one eye—to see what I was up to.

Finally, when I didn’t get up and leave so she could rest in peace, she popped up like a jack-in-the-box, both eyes wide and staring, and watched me closely as I snapped a few more photos.

I realize she’s wearing a wide-eyed glance that practically screams “I ain’t done nuthin!”  Despite that guilty look, however, I find this image of Kako terribly endearing, a moving portrait of a true lady who, when she wants, can be quite the mistress of intrigue and beauty.  Something in her eyes beckons to me, an unspoken declaration of love, trust, and shared comfort… a silent vocalization of the indescribable tenderness inherent in family bonds.

Yet something else hides behind that appearance.  I see the guise of things not said yet clearer than the noon sun in a cloudless sky, a regard from the predator within that gently tells me my delusions of mastery are tolerated only because deep affection flows in the river between us.

It was actually too dark to snap these photos using the camera settings I had chosen, but I did it anyway—probably because I still don’t know any better when it comes to photography.  Nevertheless, I thought some of the pictures actually turned out better than anticipated.

So here are a few images of Kako hanging out on the cat castle.  I’ve had that piece of furniture for far too long but can’t bear to part with it… yet.  All of them love it and use it constantly.  It needs to be replaced, I know, but not until I find something comparable (and can afford it!).

One thing I’ve never understood about The Kids is how they’re able to get comfortable on things and in positions that make me hurt just looking at them.  Take the printer for instance.  It’s hard with angular surfaces, yet all five of them can sleep on it for hours.

That’s Kako doing just that.

Because they like to sleep on top of it, I keep it protected with a dust cover that stops their hair from piling up on and in it.  Sometimes they like to bunch the cover up before lying down (as Kako did), and sometimes they take it as it is without alterations.

Yet this is nothing more spectacular than is the normal feline ability to sleep pretty much anywhere and on anything.  Whether it’s a sheet of glass, a hard floor or countertop, or any of a number of pieces of electronic equipment, their flexible bone structure and blasé attitude about sleeping arrangements seem to enable comfort even in the most unpleasant of places.