Where did cat Gilles hide the clock?

Where did cat Gilles hide the clock? Clever cats.

When the major renovation of our apartment started with the squealing and banging of drills, our cat Gilles — big, tough, but wary of strangers and loud noises — immediately dove under the bed. After sitting there until evening and realizing that his hiding place didn’t protect him from the noise, he started looking for a new refuge.

The next morning, as soon as the builders started working, Gilles dived into the closet, the door of which opened and closed softly. He sat there until 6 pm — the end of the work day.

Then Gilles would jump out of the closet, go to his food bowl and litter box, and start playing. Sometimes the workers were not there all day, but the cat still climbed into the closet at 9 am and sat there until 6 pm, as if standing guard.

This continued until the renovation was over. It remained a mystery to me where Gilles learned the time. I checked — there was no alarm clock in the closet. There were no «commander’s» watches on the cat’s paw either.

To all my questions about how he knew the exact time, Gilles mysteriously purred — who knows what kind of wisdom is in a cat’s head.