Morning Again

The first week of the time change is most difficult for animals. I had already been preparing myself somehow for the change. I wonder about this because after all, it is a figment. In the natural world, there is no time change, no standard or daylight savings time, just the world with its usual rhythms. But the cat knows that at a certain time every day, the owner should get up and shake herself awake, should go to the big bucket of cat food and take out a handful and put some in the bowl. If he cannot rely upon this, what will become of him? So I have been all too happy to sleep for an extra hour for weeks now, but the cat is puzzled and insistent. He won't allow it. His indignant whiskers poke me in the shoulder, in the neck so that in spite of myself, I heave off the covers at last, and feed him an hour early, angry with myself to have failed in the training. The sky comforts me with rain, its soft murmur lulling me back to sleep. One can get used to anything.