So our already packed house has yet another resident...well, on the front steps at least. A strongly built, exceedingly well fed, and well cared for cat has appeared in the past week and taken up residence on our front lanai. He is forever lolling about on the steps, only slipping out of sight in the hot afternoons to languish under a cumbersome table on the patio- dead asleep. His tail is like leviathan's- a heavy rope that you can hear thudding on the steps when he is in an excitable state of mind. You would be excused for thinking he was part labrador.
After protracted consideration, I christened him Boris.
He objects to being held or having his soft belly touched much- though his healthy coat may be stroked upon his back or head. He is equally feisty about his abbreviated but hefty tail.
He is rather a ridiculous animal- with entirely too much personality. He rolls around continually on the top step- and often falls asleep on his back with all fours sprawled to the corners of the compass. Some of the girls in the house suspect Boris of being a female, but Boris is hardly a lady. And i am pretty sure Boris is a male. However, in the unfortunate case that the contrary is discovered, a back up feminization of his name has been decided upon in advance: Boris-Marie.
Boris is generally rather pleasing to have about. I don't think its my imagination that he likes me in particular- even though i scold him most (for putting his head through the hole in the screen door and other such antics). The other night, after i was on the patio speaking to him, I closed the door and went to my room. Next minute, Boris had got himself up onto a lean-to roof under my window and was standing looking in at me. He meowed and tried to fit his head through the glass louvered jalousies- which of course looked ridiculous. My roommates thought it was quite entertaining, which only encouraged him, of course. I told him off neatly, and he laid down on the little roof facing me- so that his head was on the same level as my pillow, and just a foot or two apart through the window. It was very sweet, but the gesture has not been repeated. Maybe because i sprayed him with water at 5.30am today when he was indulging in a howling spree while facing off with his evil twin, which i have named Ivan (the Terrible). About once a week they meet in a tense stand off that wakes up about half the neighborhood (if the street's armada of roosters hasn't already beaten them to it).
Its nice to have a pseudo-pet like Boris- even if he does have his moments.
Doesn't he just look blissful?
