Cipriano Armenteros

Yes, we have another new cat. This one is Pif’s second son, the strange puzzle-printed animalito who i discovered one morning in early May at Malin/Simon/Anton/Klara’s house. Let me anticipate your questions:

1. You’re not a cat person. You live in a mobile home with a gargantuan six year old with a penchant for mud and general disorder. Your parents are horribly allergic to cats. You’ve said in the past that you think cats are “bitchy” and standoffish.

Yes, all this is true. Did you read the post back in May about finding the mice babies in the compost heap? Also, Sandra said tonight that she found various parts of a rat in the back of the manor. Cats are many things, but my love of cats is inversely proportional to my dislike of rats.

2. What is his name?

Cipriano Armenteros, from the perfect Rubén Blades song of the same name. Buy the album Caminando and listen to it over and over. He’s an honorable bandolero, and little Cip has already distinguished himself for his bravery, hissing blithely in the face of Machin, and bears his white standard nobly on his chest.

3. Are they driving you crazy?

Yes, half of the time, when they’re not asleep, which is kind of the same way i feel about kids. This is karmic retribution for all the sibling rivalries i had with Izzy growing up – i find myself saying, why do you have to be so mean to one another? can’t you just get along? And Cip, who is very verbal, yowls and scratches some more with Max, i consider googling the french translation of ASPA. They’ve started getting along now, which means that one of them will start licking the other one All Over, and i wonder at times if i should tell Gabriel not to watch this until he turns 18 or so, unsure of the age limit for watching homoerotic kitty porn. Then I send them all outside to play in the dirt.

4. Is this one of those strange Freudian scenarios where you’re substituting cats for children/boyfriend?

Yes probably, but they do eat much less, and do not pee on the toilet seats: and, one day, they will eat rats. How many women can say that of their child/lover?

5. Are you going to turn into one of those crazy cat ladies with 600 cats in your house, covered in cat hair and reeking of cat spray?

No. Both boys will become neutered Its at six months old, we are not engaging in any reproductive experiences here at Maffay, and they really will be outside cats, because we have work here on the house for which the collective experience of Grandpas and Grammas is required. However, we might get a goat or two… (to be continued).