Republicans say the darndest things

A Republican state representative I knew who was chairman (chairwoman, chairperson) of the powerful House Appropriations Committee had a new kitten once, that she had placed in her room at the motel.

After the meeting I went to see the kitten.

The deal was, the Appropriations chair and her husband wanted to adopt a new kitten; a Democrat representative from the western part of the state had some new kittens that were old enough for adoption / placement in suitable homes, & both reps had to be at the meeting in the state capitol, so they "made the drop" during the day-and-a-half scheduled meeting.

(Like the French Connection,
only it was the feline connection.)

I was like, "Oh, you're getting a kitten!"
"Yes, he's in my room at the motel right now. I have to get back there and check on him after this [the meeting] is over. You can come and see him if you want to."

(She was an educator, and always spoke in a decided, "underlined" kind of manner -- as if to say, 'Here's what we're gonna do. We're going to keep the plan simple and straightforward...' [So there!])

This Appropriations chair was sort of famous (at the legislature) because of the two cats she & her husband had, at their home in our state's largest town. When people would hear that I had two cats, they would sometimes say, "Do you know about Representative JN's cats? One of them swims!"

I heard that more than once, over the years: with Cats being the Common Conversational Link, and the Swimming being the unusual thing that a person didn't forget.

("One of them swims!
In a little wading pool they set up in their backyard sometimes, in the summer!")

Some unusual breed, I guess that would enjoy some swimming (supervised, by their humans, of course).

They also were known for riding motorcycles.

The Appropriations chair and her husband, that is, not the cats.

When I went to see the kitten, the Republican representative was wearing her casual clothes, eating cold carrots and celery from a Tupperware container, and watching the new kitten play on the carpet.

I had a concept of picking him up and holding him and petting him, but turned out, there wasn't much of that -- a kitten is different from your own, grown-up cats. Your own cats know you. A new kitten doesn't know what anything is, in the world, and is busy trying to find out. He doesn't know what a human is -- he does not even really know what he is.

(Oh! What's that?!
The tip of my own tail!
You're kiddin' me!
Ya-aauu--gh! Yow!)

He was very busy springing, bounding, boing-ing and re-bounding all across the tough-textured motel carpet -- a small, economy room, but in the kitten's world, a vast Plain To Be Explored And Learned.

While we humans talked a little about the meeting, & the next one, and mostly about summer trips and Cats, we watched the kitten motoring around on his four nimble feet, his curious nose searching, eyes trying to take in more than he could process, so -- go FASTER! Rolling, running, stopping short. Leaping, pouncing. A perpetual-motion "Machine."

And after about twelve minutes of that, he came to rest for a moment, in a classic, graceful posture typical of a grown Cat, when I again hoped for a moment to Pick-Up-And-Cuddle, and before I could reach, he lay down right where he was in the middle of the carpet, (not yet having skills for finding and creating a sheltered and extra-cozy Napping Location) and abruptly, immediately,

Slept.

It made me think about how kittens grow up and learn their Cat Skills by Nature, without, like, books and tapes, or school. ...

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