The speed of sniff

[desperance]

Yestereve I cooked the Xmas ham - or the first of the Xmas hams, if I end up giving it all away as I usually do. I boiled it (well, barely-simmered it), glazed it, cooled it, covered it and put it in the fridge.

This lunchtime? Ham for lunch. Obviously. So I took it out of the fridge.

Before I had put it on the counter, before the fridge door had swung shut again with its particular thunky sound, I heard:

the thump above my head, that means Barry had been having a drink from the tap in the bathroom basin and has now jumped to ground again;

the desperate thunder that means Barry is racing hectically down all the stairs in the house;

the pitiful mew that means "Hullo, I'm here now, and I really need ham."

This is before I've uncovered it, surely - despite the title to this post - before molecules of hammy-smell have had time to rise to the bathroom.

How the hell did he know?

Comments

[szandara.livejournal.com]

Survival instinct. Over hundreds of thousands of years, felines have evolved the ability to respond instantly to the sound, however faint and distant, of a man opening the refrigerator door to remove a ham.

[devonellington.livejournal.com]

Telekenetic connection to the devas of ham.

[martyn44.livejournal.com]

Be grateful

If we comprehended all the ways of cat, we wouldn't need them, we'd be able to do all those tricks for ourselves. Which is why they'll never let us in on the secret.

[cornishmoth.livejournal.com]

Cats live within a different time-frame to humans. He smelled it BEFORE you opened the door.

To prove this theory, watch a cat fall from a table... they aren't falling far enough to react in time to get those feet underneath them... they KNOW BEFORE THEY FALL!

QED

[costumeimp.livejournal.com]

Just who do you think put the idea of "Ham" in your mind in the first place?

Barry was merely cleansing his palette, giving you time to get the ham out and ready. Of course he made a great show at thundering down the steps, thus giving you the signal that the arrival of his eminence was imminent.
I'm sure the quote was accurate "Hullo, I'm here now, and I really need ham.".
Personally, I feel that way about Ham myself. I might even try the same approach, this IS HAM we are talking about here...