Once upon a time there was a little game designer, and every day she went to sleep early because she was a very sleepy person and that’s when she got her best work done anyway. She would fill up a big glass of water and set it next to the bed so that when she woke up in the middle of the night with the dread-thirst, she could drink the glass and return to her work (sleep).

But one day, some blustery wind and a neighbor’s dance party threw her sleep schedule into tatters and shambles, or perhaps shatters and tambles. She worked very hard to get it back in line, but still had some rough problems with waking up at the wrong times in the night.

The little game designer woke up one night with the dread-thirst at a very unusual time, earlier than usual, but when she reached over for her glass of water, she paused. Her cat was sitting there on the bedside table, watching her intently. The little game designer blinked, puzzled, since normally the cat was to be found at the foot of the bed.

Then, casually, as though this was perfectly routine, her cat leaned over and began drinking out of her glass of water. A long, thirsty drink. He licked his lips and walked back onto the bed, curling up to sleep. Very casual. As though this was a perfectly normal order of events for him.

And nothing was ever the same after that.