At 4:20 a.m. Sunday, Sam and I woke up to wailing coming from the den. Checked Stella: she was in her perch in the basket on the cat tree above the bed. She was barely able to lift her head. Closed the door, entered the den and petted Tabitha for about 20 minutes until she lay down. I considered sleeping on the couch in the room, but enough already.

Up at 8:00, feed the cats, pet the cats, reaffirm the cats and off to rehearsal. On the way home I stopped by the pet shop again to pick up Feliway, a feline face pheremone. It's like Prozac for cats. I bought the 24-hour plug-in approach to calming my cats. I had already read some chapters about this in "Cat Vs. Cat" and thought this was a good idea.

I got home and plugged in the Feliway. Now our hallway smells like face. But, since I don't know what that smells like, it's fine.

I put a white sock on my hand and petted Stella. Stella doesn't like being petted by white socks, I guess. Especially when she's not in the mood to be petted. Hey, I'm familiarizing over here! Closed the bedroom door, went into the den, petted Tabitha with the other white sock (not marked with an "S"). Tabitha likes being petted with anything. She's an avid petting receiver. I left the white sock on the floor. "Hmmm, yes. I recognize that smell; funny it should be on a sock in the middle of the floor, though." (Look Who's Talking 6.5) I let Stella out and put the sock on the floor right next to the Feliway plug-in. Stella walked by and did a double take. That was the most interesting sock that ever smelled. I decided to pet her to calm her while she smelled. When Stella's really, really calm she hisses at me. I guess. Or maybe she transferred the aggression she was feeling from smelling other cat on a sock in the hallway. Where's an Animal Behaviorist when you need one?

I was walking home from the reading of "Believe" (more on that later) I was doing Sunday night at the York and called Sam. "Stella clawed Tabitha!" WHAT? "I was going into the den and Stella was asleep in the livingroom and ran toward the door when I opened it. I think she saw her." Oh, she saw her. "Yes." She didn't claw her? "What?" Nothing. That's fine. She knows she's there. It was a mere glimpse; I'm sure it won't upset the process.

And he cleaned out Tabitha's litter box. The training is going very well.