LVIII. I Am Keats

February 22, 2012 — Mmm-hello! I have pounced into the middle of this page to show you how very sweet and handsome I am.

I am Keats

I am Keats. Samantha tried out different names on me. That way I could choose which name I liked best. Most of them I just ignored. But Keats I like, because it is a fusion of Kat and Eats. Purrfect.

I like living with Samantha. She feeds me and brushes me and gives me toys. I like catching the tennis ball mid-air as it bounces down the staircase. I also like catching flies. Samantha likes that.

I have quickly established a routine here. In the morning I jump up on Samantha’s bed, tap my wristwatch, put my face in hers, and say, “Do you see me? It is time to get up and feed me.

We get up; she takes a shower; afterwards I jump into the tub to lick it dry. Then we go downstairs. In the kitchen I parade across the floor and with my forepaw point out the cabinet where the food is stored. Samantha says I have come pre-formatted: I wait on the floor patiently, without jumping onto the table, and coach Samantha while she pours the food into my blue dish.

After I eat, I check my appearance in the glass front of the dishwasher, and then I am ready to go outside for the morning.

Hello, Elizabeth-cat. I hear you think you are a queen. Am I not handsome?

Sometimes I have a play date with a white cat. I don’t like that bully black cat, though. Sometimes I hide under the hedge in the backyard and look for rabbits. Often I curl up under the next-door neighbor’s bush and snooze until it is time to come in and eat again

When we have guests, I go into the living room to greet them. I jump up in the chair with them or sprawl out on the couch, proudly displaying my beautiful fur coat and demeanor.

Like ... what?

After they leave, I curl up in my little bed in front of the radiator in the dining room until dinnertime.

After dinner, sometimes I watch TV with Samantha; but when she reads, I curl up on a small, round, fluffy throw rug nearby. Then it is time for a bedtime snack, and usually I curl up on Samantha’s bed and keep her feet warm. Sometimes I prowl around in the middle of the night, but I am quiet until my wristwatch alarm goes off in the morning.

—Keats Mozart
with Samantha Mozart

Photos by Daphne, Emma’s healthcare aide.