The Agility of a Cat...

While Dabney grows used to his new environment, the other beasts carry on as normal, aware, though, that a stranger is in their midst and that they will have to instruct him in how to be an insider-cat once more. I will be counting on them, though it may be well for Dabs not to learn everything they have to teach him.

Take Percival, for instance. My big-headed fellow is loveable and playful. And clumsy. His awkwardness appears to come from having no sense of his immediate surroundings. He will jump for a string-toy and forget that he jumped from the edge of a couch, an edge that has seemingly moved in the course of his jump. He will watch the outside from a window, unaware that a slight roll to one side will throw him off his perch. I’ve observed him snoozing on top of a cat-tree; he turned in his sleep and dropped with a thud to the next platform. He shook his head and returned to his nap. He was at the kitchen window, standing on his hind legs to view the outside from the ledge under the pane. He adjusted his stance, slipped off the ledge, and descended perfectly upright to the floor, like a fireman sliding down a ladder without touching the rungs.

Such is the mentor Dabney will soon have.

Maybe I should find him a new foster-home…