Four friends, some in high places

Training a human is an arduous process for a kitten.  Even worse, there are time constraints.  From birth, the kitten is under pressure to get its human trained before the kitten outgrows its kittenish cuteness.  If a kitten is gifted with extra cuteness, the training progresses rapidly.  If you've ever been worked over by a kitten con artist, you know exactly what I mean.

The feline mind works in mysterious ways.  Sometimes feline ploys make sense.  Other times... well....  I bear psychic scars from some of these other times.  For instance, there was the disturbing behavior of the kitten that would not come in at night when you called her.  But if you went out with a flash light, she would come running.  Answering a flashlight is troubling, but it is not an example of diabolical feline calculation.  This peculiar behavior was merely an an indicator of things to come. This kitten has grown up to be a seriously ditzy cat.

But the devious cunning displayed by another pair of schemers was downright chilling.  Even amongst young cats, it's common knowledge that cats are better climbers than humans.  So what better way to make a human prove her devotion than to climb up on something high and howl until the clumsy human finds a way rescue the kitten in distress. 

The cute, little, big footed calico would get up on a roof and howl.  To rescue this kitten, the height fearing human had to stand on a step ladder, contort out a window backwards and snatch the squirming kitten from the jaws of death.  Fortunately, this also proved traumatic for the kitten and she only did it a few times.

Unlike her sister, the "angelic" little white kitten was not traumatized by rescues.  She expected them.  Her game was to climb up into a huge oak tree, carefully select a branch I could barely reach, and park herself there.  Then she would yowl at the top of her impressive lungs until I managed to get her down.  While I was getting her down, the cow spotted sister would get jealous.  So that sister would run up to the same spot and howl to be rescued.  Unlike the demure mastermind of the plot, this little fiend always managed to claw the hell out of me on the way down.  Although I didn't like this game, they did.  So, we played this game several times a day for weeks.

Update:  The little calico had tried to train me but her conscience won out.  She was just too nice to continue making the human jump through hoops.  She is now an undemanding pleasant companion.  The extra-cute little white diva was not troubled by such scruples.  She so rigorously trained me that to this day, I am her slave.  The cow spotted copy cat is still plagued by sibling rivalry issues.  And the butter- brain that communed with flashlights is still a butter- brain.