Being Watched Over

For days now Mary has quietly stationed herself in the kitchen doorway facing the backdoor.
Gone have the cuddles at night and the first-on-the-couch snuggles up and so after dinner times and walks instead of her tightly curled up sleeps she remains on point and alert as the elder members of the household, scratch and snore and belch and fart in their slumbers.
Since William died, Mary now sees Household Protector as one of her roles,
It is a job she is ill equipped for and if my situation was less precarious than it is at the moment I would have brought in a gently assertive alpha male to relieve her of her anxieties.
Very early this morning  I found out just why she has been on guard.
I also worked out just why the cat food bill had gone up recently even though Albert has not even put on a pound in weight.
We have been infiltrated by a ginger Tom with attitude.
I was up around 5am waiting for a decongestant drink to brew in the kitchen when I heard Mary's low growl from the kitchen doorway.
I was propped up silently against the cabinets in a natty pair of boxer shorts and must have looked invisible to the ginger Tom who boldly thrust a meaty paw through the cat flap like a leopard,
Mary was still, her job was to protect the rest of the house and the Tom knew it, he was there just for Albert's food.
Theirs was a Mexican standoff
The tom's eyes flashed gold at Mary as he climbed confidently into the kitchen and he never saw the  half kilo bag of wholemeal pasta shapes until it hit him squarely in the mush.
Game Of Thrones couldn't have staged a better fight as when he panicked and circled in shock and fear Mary ran forward and sank her teeth into his fleeing ginger rump.

and twenty five minutes after I had returned to bed Mary returned to her usual nightly position  curled up under my armpit