Dogs & Cats

If you’ve never been owned by a cat, you don’t know what you’re missing. They’re as night to a dog’s day. A dog may be more companionable, but you also have to walk them, greet them whenever and every time you come home, wipe the slobber from your face after each greeting, talk to them, pet them, say, “Good dog, gooood dog” each and every time they do something good or clever. Dogs require much more of your time and attention than cats do. We owned one dog in our married lives, a miniature collie we named Benjy after the character in Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, because he, like Faulkner’s Benjy, was an idiot, making our lives a living hell with his need for attention, his driving away any visitors with leaps and barks and bites. After Benjy we went to cats exclusively, some nine from then to now. The two we now have are Dusty and Squeakie. Garfield is the iconic comic cat, but the one in Pickles is also good. Here he/she is, explaining his/her occasional help around the house.

And here’s Squeakie doing her bit, guarding our suitcase and my shoes. She’s such a good little helper.