A Rude Awakening

While I was in Atlanta I was introduced to one of the largest varieties of household cat: the Maine Coon. These are biiiiiig kitties, fairly larger than your standard cats and sporting a good amount of fur as well. The place we were staying at housed two of them, and they were a handful in a couple ways. 

 

While we were up and about they acted normal, for cats I guess. They rubbed against our legs, they let us hold them for a little while, they went out onto the balcony and from there climbed up and down the roof of the house.

But when we went to sleep is when they really became active.

There were about half a dozen of us sleeping in various places in this small living room. I was sleeping peacefully on an air mattress when in the middle of the night I became vaguely aware of the cats existing near me. I woke up a little more when I heard noises and realized one was clawing away at the plastic of my bed. I pushed them both off. They of course pretty much immediately returned, resuming the destruction of my bed. We went on like this for a while, me pushing them off and them jumping right back on very defiantly.

After a few rounds of this I realized I was sinking into the bed pretty quickly. Retreating, I moved to a comfy chair next to me and settled in to hopefully get the rest I very much wanted, but it was not to be. One of the coons jumped onto the vacant airbed like always, but this time without my weight pushing down on it keeping it firm, the cat pretty quickly sunk into it. The cat was not prepared for this. It panicked and jumped several times across the bed in a loud wild frenzy, then jumped off the bed and onto my bare legs, claws out, and launched onto the floor from there.

With mild lacerations stinging, I thought, "Alright, now they'll leave me alone, since they fear the bed."

But it was not to be.

I was right next to the foldout couch where two other guys were sleeping, and just as I was drifting off I heard in rapid succession:

"OW!"

"WHAT THE?!"

from that direction immediately before claws and fur attacked my face. The cat, for unknown reasons, decided to redo the berserk jumping claw dance, but this time across our heads rather than the half deflated airbed. Those of us who were not victims of the wanton destruction were awoken by the cries of pain and surprise. The cats fled.

After that we slept fine. Maybe the coons realized that their welcome was well and truly worn out.