Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - A Day without Auggie (Auggie #6)

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Starting point is 00:02:19 Download the White Noise Deep Sleep Sounds app and get 30 days free access to all of it. the premium content, just go to deepsleepsounds.com slash get sleepy. That's deepsleepsounds.com slash get sleepy. Welcome to get sleepy. Where we listen, we relax and we get sleepy. I'm your host Thomas. Thank you so much for tuning in. It's been a while since we visited our cat friends, Orgy and Meatball. If you're new to their stories, Augie would like to impress upon you that she was there first and that Meatball was merely a recent addition to the family.

Starting point is 00:03:16 And Meatball certainly wouldn't try to usurp her as queen of the household. He's enormously good-natured, and eager to please. Two qualities that Orgy finds endlessly embarrassing. Tonight we'll find out what happens when Meatball gets a rare day of a lone time. He's not particularly used to that, and we'll all find that being the big cat of the house has its ups and downs. A huge thank you once again to Alicia Stefan and Simon, respectively, for the writing and narration of this series, which we know so many of you love and adore. Before we begin, let's unwind from the busyness of our days and spend some time moving our bodies and minds in the soothing direction of sleep. Just gently adjust your

Starting point is 00:04:33 body in any way that may help you feel more comfortable, or if things are just right as they are, then simply enjoy that cozy stillness. Allow your eyes to fall closed if you're yet to do so, and bring your attention to the breath. Feel the slow, steady movement of your breath. as you relax more and more into this opportunity to rest. As you breathe, you may sense the subtle difference in temperature between the inhale and exhale. The air moving in through your nostrils tends to be cooler, and once it's traveled around your body, the air you breathe back at is a little warmer with this warmth in mind as you continue to breathe. See if you can imagine

Starting point is 00:06:08 a small block of ice in front of you with each exhale of the breath. The warm air flows onto the ice and it slowly begins to melt with every cycle of the breath. Watch the way the ice melts a little more, the solid form of the ice block gradually softens and turns to liquid in much the same way. Your body and mind soften with each breath out. You become more relaxed, less rigid, as if you too are melting into the warmth and coziness of your bed. You can continue to visualize the ice block, melting with the warmth of your breath, for as much time as you like, perhaps until it has completely transformed to liquid water. Remember, my friends, your only concern right now is being totally relaxed.

Starting point is 00:07:57 With that being said, it's time to hand over to Simon as we return to our series about Augie and her family. This is where our story begins. The busy start to the morning was one of Meatball's favorite times of the day. He wasn't a big fan of the really early part, when the only noise was the pot gurgling in the kitchen. The house was very boring then. Unlike Augie, who seemed fixated on rising with the sun, Meatball preferred to stay snugly warm in the covers with the humans.

Starting point is 00:09:11 There was plenty of room after all. He found he could stretch himself in just about any direction, and both of the people would make room for him. In fact, the man almost fell off the bed sometimes, out of consideration for Meatball. To show his appreciation, Meatball would sometimes sweep his tail across the man's face. Everyone seemed to like his soft fur, after all.

Starting point is 00:09:45 As soon as the people got out of bed, the real fun began. There were so many exciting things for a feline to do. He quite marveled at the fact that Orgy seemed to have no interest. Meatball enjoyed meowing at the bathroom door while the humans were running the shower. Sometimes, to reassure the humans that he was still there, he would lie down and show. shove his meaty little paws under the crack in the door. When he was allowed access to the bathroom, he liked to sit in the tub

Starting point is 00:10:31 and watch all the primping the humans were doing at their double vanity. The day got even better when the small people were up. Somehow, Meatball always sensed when it was almost time for the big humans to wake them. He liked to sit at the door that belonged to the older child, waiting expectantly. Sometimes he tried to pull on the handle, but it never worked for him.

Starting point is 00:11:07 It was some kind of people magic he couldn't crack. Once the portal had been opened, however, he always energetically squeezed himself through the gap, pushing his way into the darkness of the quiet space. Then he would make a circuit of the bedroom. Hopping up on the child's bed and waiting for a hug and a head scratch. Without delay, as the older child rolled out of bed, he would run to the second child's room and repeat the performance.

Starting point is 00:11:47 More hugs to be had. More cooing and attention from the small people. They were his best buddies, while children were dressing or being dressed, there was often an opportunity to go poking into the opening of a mysterious bedroom closet. Or sometimes, the beatball could squeeze himself into an open sock drawer. These spaces were not always available, but this was one of the best times of the day to break into them. He thought himself very clever when he snuck inside. one of these elusive nooks.

Starting point is 00:12:40 Then, once the people went downstairs, Meatball's most important job was to patrol for dropped pieces of toast and sweet morsels of cereal. This activity did come with the considerable hazard of a child smearing jam on his clean orange fur, but it was a risk worth taking. Once the children were gone,

Starting point is 00:13:10 No food whatsoever would be falling to the floor. Meatball knew that his window of opportunity was narrow. Orgy also took advantage of the children's meal time, but she was very bold. Once in a while, with practiced skill, she would even snatch something tasty right off their plates. Meatball had tried this, but he was getting rather large. and unwieldy, and he couldn't seem to manage the stealth that seemed to come naturally to Orgy. For Meatball, the drawback to being a big, lovable orange lug, apparently, was a lack of subtlety. People always saw him coming. Most days, the children were eventually delivered to the yellow

Starting point is 00:14:07 bus, where they disappeared for many hours. The adults, however, came and went. Sometimes they were sitting at the tables and desks, and other times they were cooking or tidying up. Once the house entered this quieter period of the day, Meatball would usually roam about to see where Augie was. Often, he'd find her looking out the front window or napping in a sunbeam in the living room.

Starting point is 00:14:45 He supposed she needed more rest, since she took on the early morning burden of trying to wake up the people every day while he was still lolling about in their bed. All these household activities were fairly regular. Once in a while, however, something new and different would happen during the course of the morning. On what seemed like an otherwise ordinary day, the man brought up the container that meant a cat was going in the car. Meatball had been in that container, and he had a very low opinion of both the confinement and the experiences at the other end of the automobile ride. He looked at Augie with alarm, but she didn't see anything. She was already deep in her first nap of the morning, oblivious to the quiet motions of the human. Meatball laid his ears back and began to squash himself around the back corner of the sofa.

Starting point is 00:16:07 It was an impossibly tight fit, but he was motivated. He wanted to be invisible. If a cat was going into that container, he did not want it. it to be him. But still, he did have some feelings of guilt, as he watched the man swoop Augie out of her catbed and quickly deposit her inside the container. She was sleepy at first, and by the time she had spread her paws out to grab onto the outside of the opening, it was too late. Lickety split, that little door was closed, and Augie's haughty face peered out of it, displaying a very ill temper.

Starting point is 00:17:07 The man hoisted Orgy's carrier into the air and disappeared down the steps. Within moments, Meatball heard the garage door opening, followed by the rumbling sound of the car. Then the garage closed again, and the car disappeared into the distance. Meatball jumped up on the chair by the window, eager to see Orgy on the outside of the house. But the vehicle had already vanished around the corner. He stood there for a moment, leaning his paws on the nearby windowsill, wondering if the car might return.

Starting point is 00:17:56 It did not. Meatball became aware of a great stillness in the house. The children were away for the day. The man and the lady were both gone. That was not so unusual. But not having Augie there was something entirely different. Granted, she was a cat of few words. Most of her strong opinions were generally communicated to him

Starting point is 00:18:33 with disdainful looks, or the shone. sharp switch of her fluffy tail, but Meatball had grown quite used to her bossing him around. Hopping back to the floor, he noticed how audible his own steps sounded, even on the carpet. Squish, squish, squish. The emptiness was palpable. On the other hand, he newsed he had the run of the house. All of a sudden, He imagined the things he could do without being observed. Picking up his pace a bit, he walked over to the bubbling water bowl and began to loudly drink. He carelessly slopped water on the floor and caught droplets all over his poofy cheeks.

Starting point is 00:19:40 Lap, lap, lap, went his pink tongue. He listened to the noise with a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of. of satisfaction. When he'd drunk as much as he could manage, he sat back on his hind legs and simply allowed the droplets on his whiskers to drip and fall on the hardwood. Had Augie been there, she would have glared at him, or even walked up and licked his face, passive aggressively. She didn't like a messy display at the water bowl. After a moment, The water on Meatball's face was beginning to annoy even him. So he wiped it away with his paws and looked around the room.

Starting point is 00:20:37 What should he do next? he wondered. He heard a bark outside and immediately trotted to the window where he'd been a moment before. Orgy spent a lot of time each day monitoring the street. This was a non-negotiable activity for her. Rain or shine, she always manned her post at the window. Sometimes, he saw her glaring ominously but passing dogs. Other times, he'd see her simply watching with half-closed eyelids as nothing at all happened down on the sidewalk. At some point, Oggy always seemed to sense that the watcher,

Starting point is 00:21:30 watching time was over, and she would curl up in the chair or in her catbed for a bath and a nap. This decision to end the watching time seemed entirely Orgy's whim. But there was an exception. On the rare occasion that anyone should be saucy enough to ring the doorbell, Orgy would tear upstairs and hide under a bed, as if hostile invaders had arrived. Meatball had no issue with the doorbell. He found visitors quite entertaining. When he was in luck, they even came inside to pat his head. With Orgy off on mysterious errands,

Starting point is 00:22:26 the task of watching the street had clearly fallen to Meatball. He realized in that moment that he was very important and sat in an alert position. Taking in the view, it seemed like an interminably long time passed before anything happened at all. Finally, a dog walker came by with two canines. One was very big, and the other was very small. Meatball tilted his head to the side, watching the dogs with fascination as they sniffed and pulled on their leads, dragging the dogwalker up the sidewalk. He placed his face at the window, almost hoping the doggies would look up and see him, like the neighbour pets did from their nearby

Starting point is 00:23:31 balconies. But the dogs were oblivious to his regal presence, and soon, disappeared from view. Meatball began to wonder how Augie could do this job for such a long time every day. It felt so thankless. Perhaps she had a secret inner life she was not sharing with him.

Starting point is 00:24:01 Forsaking the window, somewhat guiltily, he decided to do something very naughty. He climbed right. into Augie's bed. Now, it wasn't that he'd never crawled in her bed before. He'd been cuddling with her, on her terms, since he was a baby. But there was no question that it was her bed, and that Meatball was the visitor. The family had gotten Meatball his own bed,

Starting point is 00:24:38 but it held no allure for him. He preferred to be with Orgy, despite the fact that Orgy frequently appeared to prefer having her own space. But Orgy wasn't there, and nobody could stare him down. He plopped clumsily into the very middle of her soft bed and made himself at home. As he did, the comforting scent of Orgy surrounded him, and he felt soothed. and protected. Deep down, he knew Augie loved him, even though she was quite crabby at times. Conscientiously, he began bathing himself. He thought of all the parts of a bath that Orgy had taught him. Toe beans? Tail? Tail. Moor tail. Wash behind the ears. Reach down and really tried to get the neck and shoulder.

Starting point is 00:25:55 Bathing really was so much work. But with Orgy in the house, it was compulsory. Untidy kitties were not allowed to share her bed. Having finished his bath, he felt very tired. He curled up with his tail over his nose and closed his eyes. All the little noises of the house swirled around him. the bubbling of the cat fountain, the air softly blowing from the vents, the almost imperceptible buzz of the lady's laptop on the table.

Starting point is 00:26:47 The backdrop of the house was like a blanket that enveloped him in security, and he began to doze off. Meatball did have a delicious little nap, but he woke, white refreshed, a short time later. He looked glumly around himself, alone in Orgy's bed, and decided to find something else to do. He rolled awkwardly off of the cushy pillow.

Starting point is 00:27:25 Then, stretching himself very, very long, he stuck his behind in the air and lowered his chin to the ground, fully reinvigorated, he made for the upstairs, and steadily ascended the carpeted steps. Upon the landing, he made a delightful discovery. The empty plastic laundry basket was sitting there, just waiting to contain him. With a leap, he had plunked himself inside. It was very satisfying.

Starting point is 00:28:08 After he had sat there for a moment, like a king, he laid down and rolled on his side, filling the entire bottom of the basket with his ever-increasing orange largesse. Then, as any good cat would, he poked his paws through one of the holes, as if to attack an imaginary foe on the other side. A feeling of excitement rose in his. him as he grabbed onto other holes in the basket, pulling himself slightly along the inside. If Orgy had been there, and in an energetic mood, she might have ambled over and swatted at his paws from the outside, he would have heightened his attack on the little holes in the basket,

Starting point is 00:29:10 and they would have had a rousing battle. Or, he admitted to himself, she might have been, standoffish that day and simply stared at him while he poked at the air. But Meatball pulled his paws back into the basket and sat up again. It was more fun with a friend, he decided. He would come back and see if the basket was here when Augie got home. Hopping out of the laundry basket, he noticed that the door to the linen closet was open slightly. This was highly unusual and had to be immediately investigated. Meatball stalked purposefully over to the tall, narrow door and stuck his nose in the dark crevice where it was a jar. He sniffed experimentally.

Starting point is 00:30:17 The closet had a funny smell. It was like clean sheets, but also like shadows and dust. A little thrill went through him. and he boldly shoved his bulky head inward, pushing the door open further. There wasn't much room to move in there, but he was able to squeeze himself onto the very bottom shelf inside. Turning around was the hardest part, because once he'd gotten in there, he was facing the back corner, which was a bit close. Awkwardly, he inched himself in a very slow circle. with his nose dragging along the inside wall of the closet until it finally reached the front,

Starting point is 00:31:14 feeling very small and tidy and pleased with himself. He settled onto the items beneath him, which were encased in some sort of zippered plastic bag. Only Augie could see him, he thought triumphantly. He couldn't remember a time when she had ever gotten. into the forbidden linen closet. He tried to settle himself a little more comfortably, but the closet was square and he was, well, terribly round. And the plastic-covered items crackled noisily beneath him

Starting point is 00:31:58 whenever his weight shifted. All too soon, the satisfaction of being the first feline explorer of the linen closet wore off. He wondered, if he could stay there long enough for Augie to return and see him. And then he realized that it would mean the humans would find him in their special closet, and he would get a scolding. This did not appeal to meet Paul,

Starting point is 00:32:31 as he preferred to be lavished with hugs and pets, not stern voices. Reluctantly, he exited the closet. But as the collapse, plastic-encast items regained their natural shape behind him, he was happy to leave the door wide open. It was proof of his achievements. Strolling idly down the hall, he made his way into the big bedroom where the humans slept. There were some nice windows there. None of them were open right now, due to the cold weather, but he and Orgy sometimes got to sit in the windowsill and watch the world

Starting point is 00:33:22 from high above the backyard. Meatball stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on the windowsill, which allowed him to survey the scene. The yard, with its grass and trees, was a wonderland of animal activity. In the front of the house, there were mostly neighbours, dogs, and mail carriers to monitor. But in the back of the house, a cat could see all different types of birds, and once in a long while, a larger animal like a fox, or even a deer might wander by. Today, however, Meatball was instantly fixated on a cheeky invader

Starting point is 00:34:18 who had made its way onto the deck, one floor but a wall. low. The gray squirrel was one of many who taunted the dogs and cats of the neighborhood, and there was rarely much that Orgy or Meatball could do about it. The squirrels were infuriatingly fast, easily flying from one deck to another, and from nearby trees to railings and so on. Worse, whenever the humans were away, they came with their infernal nuts and buried them in the flower boxes, making a terrible mess as they did so. This time, one of the worst offenders had clearly come to dig up his buried treasure. He stood in the barren flower box, which was empty for winter, and dug madly, twitching his tail all the while. Meatball stood like a statue.

Starting point is 00:35:28 His natural instincts told him that he could not be noticed. An unbidden, an unbidden, a chittering, eck, eck, eck sound squeaked quietly out of his mouth. His long tail switched below the windowsill. And as he stood there, alert, that squirrel made a horrible mess of the entire flower box, took a single nut, a single nut, and darted away with it, Like an ice sculpture that was melting, Meatball's body slowly regained motion, slipping down to the floor from the windowsill.

Starting point is 00:36:16 Feeling oddly vacant, as if he'd had an out-of-body experience, he took a moment to wash his paws and then hopped up onto the large bed to poke around. He wished Orgy had been there. She would have glared daggers at that naughty squirrel he thought. Then he resolved to be far more terrifying in the future. Reaching the bed, however, he found his spirits immediately lifted.

Starting point is 00:36:53 The humans had left a freshly folded pile of laundry there. It was a stack of black and grey t-shirts, all in perfect squares, smelling clean and looking soft. Meatball sniffed it appreciatively. and then stepped on it, awkwardly circling the t-shirts several times. Then, with fair accuracy, he plopped his body down on top of the laundry pile, snuggling into it and wrapping his tail around the entire thing. Granted, his head was falling off the pile a little awkwardly,

Starting point is 00:37:41 but he knew that he would soon forget about that, tucking his nose under one of his paws, he soon closed his eyes, focusing on the faintly lingering warmth of the pile underneath his belly. Lovely. He stayed like that for what seemed an appropriate amount of time, but eventually he felt more awake again, and he knew that his time on the laundry pile was over, rising and arching his back into a lovely stretch.

Starting point is 00:38:23 He sat and viewed the pile of t-shirts, which were now coated in his orange fur. This was very good, he thought, because it was important to make sure the people were always thinking of him. Feeling successful and well-rested, he dropped to the floor and went prancing down the hall to investigate the rooms of the small people. He went first into the room of the older one.

Starting point is 00:38:58 There were a few pieces of clothing scattered on the floor, but he had no desire to sit on that type of laundry. Instead, he hopped up onto her desk chair and then to the surface of her small writing desk. She had some coloured pencils there, lying in a neat row. Meatball yielded to the irresistible urge to push them with his paw.

Starting point is 00:39:30 They all moved together, making a small noise. He pushed them harder, and they became disordered, with some slanting away from the others. Then, with an energetic, pat, pat, pat, he knocked them askew. Some rolled across the desk, and others fell to the floor. Looking around the desk, he spotted a pencil sharpener. Within moments, he had sent it over the edge. It hit the carpet below and broke open, spilling little shavings all over the area next to the desk.

Starting point is 00:40:19 He pondered the mess with boredom. Doing these things without an audience was really not as fun as it should be, he thought. He hopped despondently to the ground again and strutted out of the room. As he sat on the landing, wondering what to do with himself, he heard a wonderful sound. The garage door was opening. Joyfully, he hippity hopped down the stairs and planted himself in the living room, facing the stairs to the walkout basement. As he did, he heard the rumble of the car entering.

Starting point is 00:41:06 and then the opening and closing of car doors, as the garage closed once again. He sat still, except for his tail, which was twitching back and forth expectantly. Finally, he heard the heavy steps of the man ascending the stairs, and lo and behold, his friend had returned. Her container was placed on the floor, the door was opened, and a very grouchy. She lumbered immediately to her bed, looking to be unharmed and in good health.

Starting point is 00:41:56 But she had a very silly pink bow, clipped lightly to the fur on the back of her neck, and her snowy white pantaloons were all trimmed and fluffy. Orgy collapsed into the bed, where, Meatball thought guiltily, he had been napping not long before. In moments, she had managed to kick off the bow and was industriously bathing herself.

Starting point is 00:42:34 It was clear she would be washing off any scent of foreign places post haste. The man took the offending container and retreated, leaving the two cats alone in the living room. Meatball kept his distance from Orgy, politely getting a quiet drink and taking care not to slosh water all over the place. But when Orgy was finally settled and had closed her eyes for a much-needed nap, Meatball walked up to her bed on soft paws and laid down beside her.

Starting point is 00:43:25 Gently, he placed his head near enough that she would know he was there. Then, quietly, Meatball heard her offer him a very small and reassuring purr. All was well again.

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories - A Day without Auggie (Auggie #6)

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