Maniacs - Jennifer Baljko

Dinky sat on one of the stairs, her green eyes peering through the railing. She was bored. She decided to break the monotony with some mayhem. She waited until she caught AJ’s eye. AJ was always the sucker, never quite playing with a full deck, an easy mark, Dinky had learned.

AJ was sprawled out in the hallway below, panting after a few rounds of “catch the doggie” with the kids. He glanced up and saw Dinky above his head.

“Hey you, stupid, wanna to play catch the kitty?” Dinky said in her cunning, catty way. “Bet you can’t touch this.” She unrolled her tail through the railing and let it hang just above AJ’s snout.

“Ah, ok. Bet I can,” gruffed AJ. He didn’t really like Dinky. When he first arrived, Dinky made it clear she was the queen of the castle and clawed his nose. But, since then, she was general nice enough, and it was fun playing with her, well, when she was in the mood to play, he thought.

Dinky swished her gray locks from side to side. The only game she was playing was “hard to get.” She laid down on the step waiting for the kook to do something.

With the gate to the stairs latched, AJ’s only hope was to jump and try to paw or bite the sliver of fur. So he started hopping vertically like a bunny. When that didn’t work, he moved a few feet down the hallway to get a running start. He need just a couple more inches. Dinky kept swinging her tail, pulling it up slightly when she sensed that AJ was too close.

The maniacal cat and dog game went on for long stretches at a time, and lasted for years. It only ended when Dinky got bored of that, too. She would curl her tail and sashay her way back upstairs.

“See you later, honey,” Dinky would throw back while meowing with victory. AJ would slump down wondering if he was ever going to get a little tail.