Clever Elroy

So this morning, I took Mister his mush with his Resthyro in it.  Actually, I didn't--what I did do was take all the ingredients into the guest room, where he is completely conditioned at this point to get his mush, and proceed to put it together with him in the room.  We've found it just makes things less chaotic if we do that in the room, instead of in the kitchen, where everybody expects to be part of the mush feast.

So, I open the can with the can-opener, then suddenly realize I've managed to forget a fork to take it out with.  So I go back into the kitchen, grab a fork, and find Mister on top of a piece of furniture, licking the mush at the top of the can.  I shoo him away, scoop out some food, and add the Resthyro drops, mixing thoroughly.

As I've mentioned before, our guest bedroom has two big windows looking out onto our screened-in back porch.  I opened the windows just a crack so that when Mister was done, I could let him out onto the porch while I lazily enjoyed my coffee.  I walked around to the back porch and saw Reggie on top of one of our little outdoor chairs, looking intently into the guest bedroom window.  I figured he was upset and salivating over being able to actually watch Mister eat his mush in front of him (the nerve!).  I peek in there and notice Mister, standing in a corner and licking his lips.  Wait, that's not right.  He's gotten faster with this, but he didn't just eat a whole plate of mush in about 30 seconds...


Then I notice another figure in there.  It's Elroy, and he has almost eaten an entire plate of mush in about 30 seconds.  He was apparently hiding under the bed, and I didn't notice.  He's done it before to Sean, but he always comes out just as soon as the food gets put on the plate when it's happened.  This time, he was more savvy.  He had to have heard me opening the can, but he stayed put.  He definitely heard me when I came back and scooped the food into the plate, but still, he bides his time.  I turned my back to open the window slightly, and he keeps quiet.  He waited until the plate was on the floor and the door was closed before making his way out from under the bed--faster than you could say "food hog" I'm guessing--and starts chowing down on Mister's food--Resthyro and all.  That took some planning, and some patience.  If I weren't so concerned about the situation, I'd be impressed.


I go tearing around the house back the way I came, throw open the door and snatch the plate up from the floor.  Elroy, of course, dives under the bed again.  I have to start all over with the mush and the drops because I'm going to assume that Mister got approximately zero drops of the Resthyro in him.  I've seen Elroy in action when there's mush involved, and trust me, it's a safe assumption.  (In retrospect, I wonder why I didn't just open the window and climb in, but it all happened kind of fast.)


So, Mister got his six drops of Resthyro, and Elroy got free mush and a ticket to Sleepy-Town for a few hours, compliments of the Valerian in the Resthyro.  I don't think he'll complain much.  But you can bet I'll be checking under the bed from now on before feeding Mister his mush and Resthyro again.