For victims of cats, large or small, the three phases follow one another in quick succession. Feline predation is almost always of either the "stalk and rush" or the "conceal and ambush" form. In either case, for the prey the interval from "?" to "Arrrgh!" is barely ten seconds. Millenia of experience with feline predation have imbued in the victim species a combination of wariness and resignation well-suited to their role. They seem to realize that if their careful watchfulness fails-- at the "Uh-Oh!" moment when they first see cats' eyes gazing intently into their own-- then their life expectancy is a matter of seconds, much too short a time to get emotionally worked up about it all.

By contrast, the victims of dogs experience much longer intervals between the three phases of victimization. Most dogs hunt in packs and use the strategy of running down their prey. For the prey, the "?" moment occurs when a distant rustling of the brush is seen or heard. The "Uh-Oh!" phase begins only when the animal realizes that the dogs are deploying themselves with him in mind. A chase ensues, with the long-winded canines attempting to outflank the faster-running prey or to trap him against a natural barrier. Many minutes or hours can pass before the pack finally overtakes and traps the victim, and the latter at last experiences the "Arrrgh!" phase of evisceration by canine jaws. From the dogs' point of view, the whole experience is long and tiring, and requires a persistent expenditure of energy. However, the dogs can at least allow themselves liberal expression of emotion through yapping and yelping to their mates during the prolonged excitement of the chase. No such emotional release is permitted to the feline predator, who depends upon surprise and therefore must be all silence and suppressed feeling until the supreme moment. Being canine prey is also different from being feline prey-- one need not be all that wary, as the noisy dogs will give ample warning of their approach, but one can profit from an attitude of persistent and determined resistance once the danger has been ascertained.

It can be argued that San Franciscans and Bostonians are victimized by nature in, respectively, the feline mode and the canine mode. The greatest natural danger to San Franciscans is, of course, the next Great Earthquake. The San Francisco resident, like the cat's prey, will experience a very short episode of victimization: it will only be a few seconds from the "?" sense of something being strange in the environment, to the "Uh-Oh!" realization of why the chandeliers are swaying and the terrible rumbling noises happening, to the final "Arrrgh!" experience of plaster and timbers falling upon one's body. In consciousness of this, San Franciscans are wary but resigned, like the cats' habitual prey-- wary of being in dangerous areas (such as the BART tunnel or downtown glass-and-steel-skyscraper corridors) when the Supreme Moment arrives, but resigned to the utter inevitability of their fate should they be caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bostonians, by contrast, face as their worst natural threat the hurricanes or blizzards which come rolling across the Massachusetts coast. These disasters are very canine in form. The victim has the "?" moment when he first notices the strange darkening of the skies. Several hours will ensue before the radio or the person's weather-sense informs him that a hurricane or a blizzard is on the way, and the "Uh-Oh!" realization comes. It will be many more hours before the "Arrrgh!" phase of being smashed about by 150 mph winds or frozen by a -50^o F wind-chill factor comes upon the unprepared victim, and turns him into so much dogmeat. This generous amount of time between the "?" and the "Arrrgh!" allows the Bostonian a good chance to prepare to resist the disaster. Hence, quite unlike the San Franciscan, he adopts an attitude of casual acceptance of the climate's occasional cruelties, combined with a dogged resistance to the slow buildup of danger when it finally looms.

Thus, San Francisco's next big earthquake will pounce catlike, with an eager release of long-suppressed energy, upon its unsuspecting victims. Boston's next big blizzard will outflank and run down its prey over many hours of slow, dogged advancing.