A dead cat, it seemed, lay on the counter, but as he looked, it stirred to life and he realized that it had… — George R. Stewart

A dead cat, it seemed, lay on the counter, but as he looked, it stirred to life and he realized that it had merely been lying, after the the habit of cats, in such a position that it looked dead. The cat looked at him with a kind of cold effrontery, as the duchess at the chambermaid. Ish felt uncomfortable, and had to remind himself that this was the way cats had always behaved.

p. 30Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0