Do you have a pet?

Do you have any pets?

In my experience, although most people like animals in general they have a preference for either cats or dogs, but not usually both. Thus, we can put people into one of two categories: ‘cat people,’ and ‘dog people.’

I do like dogs, especially golden retrievers and labradors, but I am unashamedly a cat person. From when I was a young child my family always had a cat or two as a pet. As I get older I find myself forgetting more and more things but I can remember the names of all the cats we ever owned without any difficulty at all: Smudge, Frisky, Ginny, Penny, Benji, Sheba and Po. Frisky was a model of longevity, living to the ripe old age of twenty-one. Conversely, Smudge was funny, friendly and cool but seemed to have a kind of death wish. That is, his hobby was to walk in front of cars, wait until they stop and then leap up onto the engine hood in order to take a nap. As one might expect, the failure of a particular car to stop in time led to his untimely demise.

Po was my last cat. I looked after him for many years before I moved into this apartment. Po was a sort of rogue ninja who had no hesitation in knocking on peoples' doors in order to be fed or use the air-conditioner since the house I was living in did not possess one. I was worried sick about what to do with him since one cannot keep cats in Japanese apartments but, in a final act of total cooperation, he suddenly died the day before I moved. I think he was trying to atone for all the sins he had committed during his spectacular and rather manic life.

Everybody take care you don’t get heat-stroke,

Buri.