cat and wolf

I have this little stuffed animal wolf, about the size of one of those personal-size watermelons, with its head back and a mechanism inside that makes it howl when you squeeze it. For years it's sat on a low shelf, entirely ignored by all the cats who have lived with me.

The other day it was missing. Later I found Tinker hugging it to himself in an ecstacy of bunny kicking fury. Head held high and growling, he carries the wolf around. It swings from his mouth, about a third of his size. Everytime I put it back, he makes off with it again.

At night, sometimes, when I'm up in my loftbed falling asleep, there will come a distant "aaaahhhhaaawoooooo" moonhowl, floating up from the wilds of the loft, where cats larger than wolves stalk the shadow trees.