CRASH!

It happened the night before last...
Rufus the Unhinged tried to make  leap onto the bookcase (5.5 feet) from a standing start.  He almost made it - getting his front paws on top of the case and scrambling valiantly with his hind claws.  He was undone by the placemat under the metal alligator sculpture which crashed down on top of him in all of it's purple, pink, and lime green glory.  The alligator (an inheritance from my cousin who collected modern art) survived undamaged.  Not so Rufus who seems to be sporting a bruised hip and tail, and the floor which now has a quarter inch deep gouge where the sculpture ultmately landed.  Rufus will probably heal if he is allowed to live, we'll repair the floor eventually.
What will not recover is our collective nerves as this event happened at 10 PM when we had all gone to sleep early and which was heard by the entire household all of whom came running to find out what had happened.

Dang Cat!