Count Rugen

By Janet Quinn

We have a new member of our family. Count Rugen joined us a little over three weeks ago. He is named for a character in the movie The Princess Bride who had six fingers since he has six toes on each of his front paws. He is a pure breed Maine Coon with papers. My son spent a bloody fortune on him.

When he moved in, he was afraid of Chewbaca, the dog, for about three hours. After that, he fell in love with Chewbaca. Chewbaca, not so much. Count Rugen follows Chewbaca all over the house and loves to grab his tail. He has also bounced off Chewbaca’s head and back a couple of times. Chewbaca is really very patient, but he is starting to be a bit nervous. He jumps every time I move or he thinks the kitten is after him. He also seems to think he needs extra bedtime candy.

We bought Chewbaca a new electronic dog door. There is a chip in his collar that opens the door. The idea was so he could come and go into the back yard as he pleased, but Count Rugen couldn’t escape. Chewbaca, however, had other ideas. He kept opening the door for the kitten. Luckily, Count Rugen never went out, but we had to turn of the inside sensor. We let Chewbaca out when he asks, but he can come back in whenever he pleases. Of course, yesterday, he stood with his head in the door keeping it open because the kitten was hiding behind the drapes next to the door. I had to get up from the computer and yell at the dog to get his butt in the house.

The two of them have this wonderful game they like to play. Chewbaca’s new collar has a part that hangs down that Count Rugen loves to bat. Count Rugen lays on his back batting at the collar and Chewbaca jumps back and forth across him. My biggest worry is that Chewbaca will slip and land on Count Rugen. Chewbaca weighs 95 pounds.

It is like having a toddler and a four-year-old in the house. The toddler steals the older one’s toys. All of Chewbaca’s squeaky balls are missing. Either Chewbaca has them stashed in the back yard where Count Rugen can’t find them or Count Rugen has hidden them somewhere. The toddler follows the older one around and makes him crazy. He chases the older one out of his favorite spots and grabs his feet. He even made Chewbaca cry one night.

So far Chewbaca has only barked and snapped, but only little snaps. He hasn’t gone over the edge yet and really tried to hurt Count Rugen. I am always yelling, “Careful. He’s a baby.”

Sasha and Pax are after the wizard in my alternate universe story. I have been doing a bit more writing. I plan on putting some of my short stories up at Kindle, so look for them.