Stack 'em Up Max

Stack 'em Up Max, originally uploaded by johnwmacdonald.

And now for something completely different. The lovely (and evil) author Clare Latremouille taught us a little game where the gist of it is to stack as many things on a cat until the point is reached when the cat is pissed off and scratches someone. I think she named the game, "Stack 'em up cats" or something like this.

In this case, in the hospitality suite of the Ottawa International Writers Festival, rob and Clare had no cat...there was, however, the poet Max Middle at their disposal.

(We would never ever actually do this to a cat, of course.)

The game "Stack 'em up Max" was born. An empty pack of cigarette rolling paper started off the game, then came some vegetable dip, a napkin, some Steamwhistle beer bottle caps, a couple of slices of crusty herbed baguette, a hotel breakfast menu, all topped off by a few slices of brocolli stems (cut by Max Middle himself earlier that evening). rob mclennan, fresh in from Edmonton, forced me to take a photo. I happily obliged. Max was very docile (probably more than a cat) and did not end up scratching anyone I am happy to report.