Channel Cat

This may look like an ordinary cat. I assure you, it isn't. This is a channel-cat. This is a tell-Charley-I-said-so cat. Yep...Gizmo's the name...Charley's the game. You see, there are those times when Charley pushes me to my limit. And, yes, when I push him to his limit. This means we enter a no-talking zone. I'm not speaking to him, and he's not speaking to me. Brad is at work, so there is no buffer. No one to pawn each other off on. That's where Gizmo comes in. We each tell him what we want the other to hear. It goes like this... Gizmo, tell Charley to take his shower. Gizmo, tell Mom I'm busy here. I'm watchin' my TV. Gizmo, tell Charley he can watch TV after his shower. Gizmo, tell Mom I said no. Gizmo, tell Charley to get in the shower or else I'm taking his clicker. And...tell him to use soap! And Gizmo goes back and forth, between the two of us, channeling the message. That's not so unusual though, seeing show Gizmo's always a bit wired. Even so, Poor Gizmo. He's a ping pong ball with whiskers. Boing. Boing. Until he collapses on the floor as if to say, "Enough, already." You'd think he'd have learned the art of hiding behind the couch by now. But he just keeps coming back for more. Fortunately, Charley and I haven't been in the no-speak zone for a while. But today was one of those days. And Gizmo offered himself up as the channel cat. Some days this channeling thing works better than others. This afternoon Charley came out of his room. I had the TV on. He said, "Mom, what channel you on?" I said, "I'm on the Gizmo network." Guess Charley thought I was getting ready to tell Gizmo to tell him to do something I wanted him to do, because he leaned over and said, "Gizmo, tell Mom not now."