Adi has a cat.
It is not an indoors cat. Those of you who know Viggy personally may have guessed that already. Ditto for those of you who've seen my house, and who realize that I need a small needy animal shedding on the furniture like I need a hole in the head.
(which has always struck me as a bizarre expression, because in fact I do need holes in my head, otherwise I would die. It should really be "like I need a new hole in the head. That is not a piercing. Or a third nostril that somehow allows me to breathe underwater.")
Anyway. "Adi's" cat is one of the three cats that hangs out outside our building. There are three of them, named (by her) Tal, Purr, and Mitsy.
Adi's favorite by far is Mitsy, or as everyone else knows her, "that one with the freaky eye."
Mitsy is white, with patches of gray that may or may not just be dirt, a freaky eye (naturally), and an ever-changing array of nasty scratches that may explain why she's somehow still skinny, despite the fact that several different people all feed our building's cats and the other ones are pleasantly round.
Mitsy is also actually a boy cat, but we are not allow to mention that. The fact of "her" male-ness was discovered fairly early on in the game, but not so early that A and N weren't already very attached to the idea of Mitsy as a girl. And anyway, you can't call a boy cat "Mitsy" (apparently), and obviously it would take some time to come up with an equally creative boy name - so for conversational purposes, Mitsy is female.
A couple of days ago N mentioned that Mitsy might have babies soon, and I didn't manage to refrain from reminding her, "Honey, you know Mitsy is really a boy, right?"
Adi was very offended. "Mommy. You're not supposed to say that!"
"I'm sorry," I told her. "I just meant that Mitsy might not be able to have kittens for... biological reasons."
Adi considered for a moment, then nodded. "OK."
It's not so bad having a cat with this sort of set-up. The kids can play with it and feed it scraps, but it's not my responsibility and it doesn't come in the house. And it seems good for Mitsy, too. She looks like she needs some positive attention.
Unfortunately, Mitsy seems to have been a gateway pet, as Adi is already asking for a pet she can keep in the house as a present for her next birthday. She wants a mouse, a bird, or a gerbil - any of those things is fine, as long as it's female.
Viggy is trying to talk her into a fish. Even that has its potential downsides - most notably, Adi's inevitable heartbreak when the fish dies of neglect/overfeeding/being invited by the younger children to join them in the bathtub. (On the other hand, one could argue that one of the main purposes pets serve is to teach children about the inevitable reality of death... )
Anyway. Now I must return to life and its many demands (laundry to fold, homework to do, popcorn to eat...). In the meantime, if anyone has a particularly durable type of pet to recommend, feel free to leave a comment.
It is not an indoors cat. Those of you who know Viggy personally may have guessed that already. Ditto for those of you who've seen my house, and who realize that I need a small needy animal shedding on the furniture like I need a hole in the head.
(which has always struck me as a bizarre expression, because in fact I do need holes in my head, otherwise I would die. It should really be "like I need a new hole in the head. That is not a piercing. Or a third nostril that somehow allows me to breathe underwater.")
Anyway. "Adi's" cat is one of the three cats that hangs out outside our building. There are three of them, named (by her) Tal, Purr, and Mitsy.
Adi's favorite by far is Mitsy, or as everyone else knows her, "that one with the freaky eye."
Mitsy is white, with patches of gray that may or may not just be dirt, a freaky eye (naturally), and an ever-changing array of nasty scratches that may explain why she's somehow still skinny, despite the fact that several different people all feed our building's cats and the other ones are pleasantly round.
Mitsy is also actually a boy cat, but we are not allow to mention that. The fact of "her" male-ness was discovered fairly early on in the game, but not so early that A and N weren't already very attached to the idea of Mitsy as a girl. And anyway, you can't call a boy cat "Mitsy" (apparently), and obviously it would take some time to come up with an equally creative boy name - so for conversational purposes, Mitsy is female.
A couple of days ago N mentioned that Mitsy might have babies soon, and I didn't manage to refrain from reminding her, "Honey, you know Mitsy is really a boy, right?"
Adi was very offended. "Mommy. You're not supposed to say that!"
"I'm sorry," I told her. "I just meant that Mitsy might not be able to have kittens for... biological reasons."
Adi considered for a moment, then nodded. "OK."
It's not so bad having a cat with this sort of set-up. The kids can play with it and feed it scraps, but it's not my responsibility and it doesn't come in the house. And it seems good for Mitsy, too. She looks like she needs some positive attention.
Unfortunately, Mitsy seems to have been a gateway pet, as Adi is already asking for a pet she can keep in the house as a present for her next birthday. She wants a mouse, a bird, or a gerbil - any of those things is fine, as long as it's female.
Viggy is trying to talk her into a fish. Even that has its potential downsides - most notably, Adi's inevitable heartbreak when the fish dies of neglect/overfeeding/being invited by the younger children to join them in the bathtub. (On the other hand, one could argue that one of the main purposes pets serve is to teach children about the inevitable reality of death... )
Anyway. Now I must return to life and its many demands (laundry to fold, homework to do, popcorn to eat...). In the meantime, if anyone has a particularly durable type of pet to recommend, feel free to leave a comment.
LOL =D
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