The other night, I observed the cats in a way that really shed some light on sibling behavior in general (and Tim thinks Duncan and Quincy are useless!). Both cats are inordinately fond of the stuffed monkey chair in the main room. Quincy curls up on it a bit more frequently than Duncan, and I think I saw why. On this particular night, Duncan was on the monkey, truly sacked out. Quincy had been curled up on top of the couch, and for a while he, too, was passed out. (Hey, their lives are hard, they needed the rest.) I remarked on their sleepy status to Tim as we sat on the couch watching a movie. A few moments later, Quincy woke up, stretched, and trotted over to the still-sleeping Duncan, where he started swatting at him. Duncan woke up with the feline version of, "Hey, what the...?" They tousled a bit, and this evidently made Duncan hungry. This clearly all worked to plan, because while he got himself a snack, Quincy waltzed over to the monkey and curled up for the night. I guess he's not quite as stupid as we had originally thought!
It does indicate that there's something about siblings that just can't stand contentedness. How often have Clare or Danny been playing nicely by themselves when the other has to shatter the peace? And when one of them is sitting on my lap? Without fail the other one wants the same spot. Quincy and Duncan do this, too. I can be sitting on the floor, scratching one's ears to their heart's content, and the other one naturally comes over and expects my full attention. So I guess I take small comfort in this competitiveness being innate behavior, as opposed to character flaws. Fortunately, all four of them spend a lot of time getting along, too!
