Betrayal most foul.

So... I have been writing since I was... Wait a sec... I have to think about that... I have been writing since I was 13. That's 24 years. ANYWAY... I keep notebooks of ideas. I keep them to keep track of my ideas, because I forget things. It also allows me to develop the ideas with writing exercises like lists and the idea web...

I have had many ideas over the years... MANY...

I've had ideas for stories, movies, scripts, role-playing games.

I have seen a lot of my ideas pop up elsewhere. I am serious. I know some people say that and they are just bullshitting... but the ideas for the faster than light travel in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, the continuation of the Stargate Universe in Stargate SG-1, and a few others...

Most of them are little things, like a gun, a piece of tech, a location, a science fiction race, etc. A lot of these, I actually have witnesses for.

I am a role-player... No... not those kinds of role-playing games... Get your mind out of the gutter!!! I am talking about games like D&D... For the longest time, I ran an RPG using the Hero System. It was back in the day... when 5th edition was king. It was a Star Hero campaign... a long running space opera.

It ran for almost 6 years.

OFTEN, my players would come back to me and say "Hey, Feral! Remember that ***INSERT OBJECT, CHARACTER, PLANET*** that was in the game a while back?"

I would answer, with trepidation in my voice..."Yes?"

"Well I just saw it on ***INSERT MEDIA OUTLET HERE***!!!"

The running joke was that they were reading my notebook, or that we had a spy in our midst. For a while, I was concerned enough about this, that I kept the notebook with me... NEVER LETTING IT OUT OF MY SIGHT. It still happened routinely, so I relaxed my hold on the book.

I could only assume that good ideas can't be held close to the breast... if an idea is good enough, it will be had by multiple people...

This is Zoe. She is a traitor.

That is what I thought til tonight.

Tonight I came downstairs and found my notebook laying open and my cat, Zoe, with her head buried deep in my notebook.

I have always had cats. Always. As long as the notebook has existed, there have been cats in my life.

What I am saying is that the cats in my life are traitors. They are spies. They are furry Eggs Benedicts!

Wait. That's not right...

http://funny-pictures-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Spy-cat.jpg

They are all furry little versions of Benedict Arnold.

This means that my cat, Smudge (who is 20 years old and still kicks the asses of Mom's other cats) was a traitor. Well, I should have known that... when I went to West Virginia to help after Dad had a stroke, she abandoned me in favor of Mom.

Watch out people... our four footed friends are all in cahoots.

I'm watching you...

I have taken precautions... Everything in the notebook is copyrighted.

So be warned... I'm onto you... and copyright is FEDERAL LAW... That means, you won't go to a white-collar tennis prison, you little punks... You will go to a federal, pound you in the butt prison!

I'm watching you!

On a side note, the title of this episode would have been so much funnier if I had ducks... I'm totally getting ducks now. The pun opportunities are endless!