Pets.

Are your family pets like your family members?

Ours are. It's like they are socialized that way, by virtue of being human artifacts.

We used to have a lovely cat called Little Oh. He was a large tabby, who was for the first few years of his life grumpy and sensitive. He was then forced to share his dominion with two kittens, Napoleon and Kristy. His personality changed dramatically, and he became a friendly, affectionate cat with a very loud, enthusiastic purr. He remained sensitive, and became the sort of old man cat for whom you feel ought to pay a lot of respect. Little Oh was a bit like my dad, except my dad is certainly not grumpy.

After he passed away, we got to know the two “kittens” better. We discovered that Kristy wasn't actually a cat, but devil spawn. As aloof and snarky as me on a bad day. He met a suitable end.



Napoleon, a soft grey and white cat with golden eyes, has the Isham enthusiasm and insanity, and is sociable and affectionate like my brother Seth. Napoleon has a veritable array of meows, grunts and purrs, which he has surely picked up from the many one-sided conversations we have with him.