In the interim, Pippi explores all the ways to use her new pirate ship -- from exploring the various portholes to looking down on her room from the crow's nest, from sharpening her claws on mast to curling up for a nap on the upper deck. As places for cats to play on go, it's quite creative and excellent, even in its incomplete state. 

On the morning of the same day next week, Pippi is curled up next to the pirate ship on her couch, occasionally batting at motes of dust lit up by sunlight. 

"Morning, Pippi. Breakfast time, then I'm heading out again, okay? I'll leave you a bowl of kibble like usual even though I don't actually think I'm going to be nearly as long this time, we're just setting up the sails."

Pippi turns to look at her, then yawns, stretches, and hops down off of the couch and pads over to April, where she proceeds to rub herself against her legs in greeting. 

"Yeah, yeah. Hello to you too. Please give me my ankles back, I need those to get to the kitchen."

Pippi cannot understand human speech, so she has a perfect excuse for continuing to rub against April's ankles while purring instead of releasing her ankles as she requested.

After 20 seconds or so, though, she does head off to the kitchen for soon-to-be-served breakfast, tail held high in the air. 

She cooks eggs for both of them, eats hers, serves Pippi's, and then fills the food bowl with kibble and heads out.

Pippi waits patiently (more or less) for her eggs, eats them happily while April fills her bowl with kibble, and is busy finishing her food while April leaves. 

She'll have to remember to clear the plate off the floor. Who is she kidding, she is in no way going to remember to clear the plate off the floor.

Anyway, she's right that this outing takes her less time than the rest of her piratical excursions, but it's not actually that much less time. Definitely still several hours.

When April returns, Pippi is out on the porch swing, sunning herself, eyes half-open. She perks her head up when the car approaches. 

Daisy parks the car and pops the trunk.

And April gets out, waves to Pippi, and starts wrestling the sails inside.

Pippi continues sunning herself, watching the humans get things through the door. Once they've managed to get the first batch of things in, she hops down and goes through the door, finding a safe spot on the couch to flop into a loaf to watch their antics. 

There are two sails, one in front and one in back. Both are designed to stay tied up around the horizontal beam they hang from, for decorative purposes; it's not like anyone is going to need to sail this ship with them. Once they get those beams fastened into place, April spends a few minutes artfully arranging the tied-up sails and then proceeds to the next step: rigging! Completely ignoring any and all principles of sailing ship design because she knows nothing about them, she strings up nets of rope in ways that look fun and aesthetically pleasing, to provide climbing opportunities and visual interest.

Pippi watches with extreme interest, tail swishing back and forth as though she's ready to pounce as soon as she has the chance. 

"No climbing until the ship is finished," she says, glancing over. "I don't want you to tear one of these things off by accident. Daisy, pass me that screwdriver—"

Assembly continues.

And Pippi watches! With only some visible impatience. 

At last, triumph!

"I'm making tea," says Daisy, heading for the kitchen.

Moments later: "...is there a reason this plate is lying on the floor?"

She cracks up.

When it is clear the humans are done (and Daisy has left for the kitchen), Pippi scrambles up onto the arm of the couch, leaps onto the deck of the ship, and scampers up the rigging to stand on the crossbar at the top of one of the sails. It's not the easiest place to balance, but Pippi is a cat, she has no problem. She sits there for a few moments, looking around to see what she can from her new vantage point. 

She can see a giggling April proceeding into the kitchen to clean up that plate!

"You know what, I retract my question. If it makes you laugh that hard, it's better not to know."

Pippi climbs carefully down the rigging, passes the mast, and climbs yet more rigging to the top of the other sail. She pauses there to wash herself a bit, peeking through the banister at the humans as she does so. 

Chatting at the kitchen table while the kettle boils.