Last night, Becker decided he was MORTALLY AFRAID of them.
Becker had some other mortal fears, like the vacuum (okay, that one I can understand) and brooms (that one I can't - it doesn't make any weird noises, cat!) and the swiffer and, for some reason, balloons. I can't figure out WHAT is scaring him about the towels/bathing suits pile, though. I picked up both the bathing suits and held them out to him, and he was fine with that. Then I held the towels out to him, and he was fine too. But if I tried to put him down ON the pile, he would FLIP THE FUCK OUT and go tearing away to hide in my room and shake like I had just tried to feed him to a meat grinder or something.
WTF, cat? Seriously, WTF?