One day long ago, when I had just started a new awful job and moved to a new awful (no pets allowed) apartment, I was very VERY grumpy when I went to a hair appointment, and found out that my long-time hairdresser, Laurie, had double booked. Up went the grumpymeter to the sky! To make up and because we finished pretty late, Laurie said she�d drive me home. We reached her car and in the front seat was a box of sand . . . �sand?� said I. Well, seems Laurie (who lived out of town and only came in once a month) had brought with her a litter of Himalayan kittens. She starts telling me about the kittens.

They came from a large litter � 7 I believe � but 1 had already left the litter and 1 had died from that kitten disease. One other, she said, also got it but she fought to save him. In the process he had lost all of his fur and was terribly little, but he seemed to be doing ok, finally. Her nephew had named that kitten 'chemo' because he looked . . . well, you can imagine. Laurie then asked did I want to see them? YES! said I, grumpily.

In I walk to a bedroom, where Laurie was staying, and there are 4 little round balls of fur playing on the floor and one tiny brown scrap of fur hiding in the closet. Laurie puts all the kittens up on the bed and I watch them for a while as they gather their courage to jump off. I�m sitting talking with my hands on the bed behind me, not planning to go home with any furball whatsoever, when all of the sudden I feel a little pudgy puff of white fur making himself comfortable on my hand and chewing my little finger. I look down, he looks up and destiny hit us. I said 'I want this kitten, and now I need a second.' Thinking that girls were gentler (and didn�t spray), I said I would take his only sister � a tortie with a really pushed-in face. I planned to name them George and Ursula, but the white one really wasn�t a George and I wasn�t that crazy about the girl, and over in the corner the brown scrap had moved and was now encased in a shoe looking over at me. Sort of like Don Hollinger when he met Ann Marie, I picked up the white kitten, pointed to the shoe and said 'That Kitten!!' He immediately fell out of the shoe and ran as fast as he could back into the closet.

I changed the spelling of his name to �Kimo� but he still spends lots of time in the closet. However when he needs a cuddle (one in the morning and two in the evening) he is very pushy about getting it. He will even come into another room and basically herd me into the living room, to lie on the couch so he can have a free range cuddle. His favorite toy is his 'Toss Perot' doll, and anything I will wiggle for him.

Tommy remains my baby . . . he�s probably top cat between the two, but only because Kimo lets him. He likes to sleep on my shoulder and eat my hair (which I hate � the hair eating not the shoulder sleeping). He will come if I sing him his song ('Your are my Tommy, my Lovely Tommy' � Kimo�s is 'Kimo-face, you�ve got the cutest little Kimo-face' � Tommy also will come when I sing that one IF I change the name.)

Their favorite dinner is pepperoni pizza and angel food cake (I think they like the cake �cause it sticks to their hair) which was their first birthday party dinner (where we also played 'Pin the Tail on the Mousie' and Drop the fishy clothespins in the kitty-bottle). They both love to play and are incredibly gentle kitties. It seems, I was told, that altered males are actually the more gentle and giving creatures . . . how can one argue with that!!

'The Boys' are now an integral part of my life. I decided to devote the second part of my life to becoming a stereotypical 'cat lady'. I choose what to bring in to my home (or decide what not to bring in) based solely on the Boys� needs and preferences, I wear cat jewelry, and have clothes with cats on them � as will you if you ever come to visit because there�s no way you can come to my home and not take a little bit of the Boys with you (it�s a good idea NOT to wear black or, heaven forbid, sit down if you do). My Boys cured my grumpiness and are the best thing I ever did.

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