Frisky Having Her Way -

She doesn't say thank you. She doesn't say sorry for the 3 AM concert or the ruined rug.

The most subtle way Frisky has her way is through the glittering art of cat hair distribution. I have a lint roller. I have a vacuum with a pet-hair attachment. I have tried everything.

Having her way extends to the witching hour. Between 2:45 and 3:15 AM, Frisky transforms from a lazy lap-warmer into a soprano performing a one-cat opera about The Great Hunger.

There is a certain point in every pet owner’s life when you have to admit the truth: You don’t own the pet. The pet owns you. Frisky having her way

The first major negotiation happened regarding the living room sectional. I prefer the left corner. It has the perfect sightline to the television and the window. Frisky, however, prefers the left corner while I am sitting in it .

She finds the single most echoey spot in the hallway—usually right outside my bedroom door—and sings the song of her people. It is a mournful wail that translates roughly to: "I can see the bottom of my food bowl. The abyss stares back. I am wasting away to nothing but fur and spite."

She just closes her eyes, trusting that the world—and her human—will continue to bend to her will. She doesn't say thank you

Yet, every morning, I find a single, perfect, white-and-orange strand of fur floating in my coffee mug. Before I pour the coffee.

Here is the thing about letting "Frisky have her way." It sounds frustrating. And sometimes, it is. But mostly? It’s liberating.

After exactly four minutes of this psychic assault, I feel a phantom pressure on my leg. I get up to get a glass of water. When I return—poof. Frisky is stretched out like a furry starfish, belly up, paws spread, taking up 90% of the cushion. She looks up at me as if to say, "Oh, were you sitting here? That's weird. I don't remember your name being on the deed." I have a lint roller

And honestly? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Frisky looked at me, blinked slowly (the universal cat sign for "bless your heart"), and immediately knocked a pen off the counter.