The Alien has left the basement.

The chair has breathed a sigh of relief. The basement has a fresh breeze flowing through. The cats are no longer being used to sweep the floor and the TV has finally been switched off. The alien has left the basement. Yep, Moon, my brother, aka the alien in the basement, has finally left and the world is happy. I am happy because I get my chair back, Mr. DBM is happy because he gets his basement back and, most importantly of all, my brother is happy because he gets his life back. He has left the basement behind for sunnier, warmer climes and the waiting arms of his loving and beautiful wife, M. What more could a man ask for?

Originally, my brother was only supposed to be here for a week, visiting with his then girlfriend, M, for Christmas. Then it was two weeks and, oh by the way, we would also like to get married while we are visiting. Then it was, well, perhaps a week or two more while I wait for my work visa, but don't worry, we are paying for it to be rushed through, so it shouldn't take long. The days passed - no news. The weeks passed - no news. Of course, no news is good news, so not to worry. More questions, more paper work..........surely they must have made a decision by now? They wouldn't drag it out this long if they were going to say no, would they? No, of course not! Positive thinking, that's what is needed. Just need to be patient, all will work out in the end. Why would they say no? I was starting to run out of inane platitudes to try and keep my brother's spirits up and he was threatening to make a run for the border when finally the news came through - granted! Everyone, including my chair, breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, you have to understand, I have really enjoyed having my brother stay. I haven't actually seen him for a couple of years now. We did arrange to go home last summer, on our way back home from a summer jaunt in Southern Africa. Unfortunately, as we were flying into Heathrow, he was flying out on his way to L.A. He claims it was not done deliberately, but we have our doubts.......Anyhoo, this is the first time that we have spent any length of time together for years and we have discovered many things about each other. For instance, my brother is still using the same jokes that he was using the last time I saw him, and the time before that, and the time before that.......Nothing new there. I think that this is one of the reasons he loves M so much - all the jokes are new to her. Unfortunately, due to language issues, she doesn't actually get many of them - either that or she just doesn't think that they are funny, which is quite possible. We also found out that we don't fight or argue any more. Can you believe that - nearly three months and not a single argument! We did come close over a couple of topics - whatever you do, don't mention the fox hunting!

One thing that my brother has discovered is that he can actually like cats. He has always been a dog person, but since I only have cats, he had to adjust and by the time he left he was actually threatening to catnap Tess. Luckily for her, his bags were dangerously close to the weight limit and she is no lightweight! I am not entirely sure how much the cats liked Moon - I suspect it was a love-hate relationship. He loved to torment them and they hated it. He would poke them, pull their tails, pluck the little tufts of hair between their toes, tickle their toes and sweep the floor with them. At one point, he even ate their last can of tuna! Now, Willow would take this up to a point but once that point was reached - watch out! She didn't just growl and paw my brother. Oh no, she actively pursued him, chasing him down the stairs into the basement and then swiping at him everytime he tried to walk past. You might think this makes her a rather miserable cat, but I ask you, would you like to have your tail and the hair between your toes pulled mercilessly? Tess took a while to warm to my brother, since she is the ultimate scaredycat, but eventually she seemed to take a perverse pleasure in being tormented. She would just lie there and take it for the most part, only resorting to the claws out, serve you right swipes in extreme cases of toe tickling or tail holding.

So, I am happy my brother has moved on, but I do miss him. It is odd going downstairs in the morning and not finding him sitting at my kitchen counter, glued to his laptop. It is odd coming home and not finding him sinking into my chair, glued to his laptop and the TV. Whenever I see a VW Beetle, I have no one to punch (Mr. DBM does not approve of such childish games). Whenever I see a cute dog, I have no one to go "Oooooohhhhhh, look at the doggy!" Now my neighbours think that I am the crazy one when they catch me leering over the fence and looking into their living room - before it was Moon. And, no, there is no hot, sexy guy or woman in there - just a very cute puppy called Chachi. And, most importantly of all, my cats no longer have anyone else here that thinks that they are the most wonderful cats in the world!

Cheerio Alien in the Basement. We miss you!