the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

meet seamus

Seamus is the new addition to the family. Wayne and Jeannie couldn't keep him, and Mich had too much wine to say no. We're now underway to Kirbyville (as I type this) to see Aunt Bann and Uncle Charles. Seamus is starting to settle down, and we've only been driving for 30 minutes. He still manages the occasional half-hearted yowl, but his isolation cell and the road noise is slowly breaking his spirit. Thank the gods.

How did this happen? I'm glad you asked, because I'd like to know, too.
We were hanging out in the kitchen, catching up, drinking coffee and wine. Wayne was cooking....

I've probably mentioned this before, but Wayne is McGuyver in the kitchen. He can work from little more than a pat of butter, a can of vegetables, and stale cereal, and produce a gourmet dish. When we were en route yesterday, he texted me to say he was making buttermilk pies. Mich said, "Good Lord. That man bakes too?!"

Yes. Yes he does. And well.

When we got there, we made comments about how we'd get fat if we lived with someone who cooked like Wayne. Jeannie said, "He only cooks for you."

Oh. I guess it's good to be me.

So in the true fashion of the Black clan, we sat around in the kitchen sipping coffee then wine and telling stories while the zoo came and went. The zoo includes two dogs: a chow-chow named Sasha and a Chihuahua named Chevy. (Great mix, huh?) I counted four cats. One is a Russian blue they got from Mother and Daddy; his name is Jean Luc. :) They have two females whose names escape me: a Maine coon-Siamese mix and a calico. The other is a grey and white long-haired, nine-month-old male who was nameless. Last but not least, they have two children, Devon and Caylin.

Around nine o'clock, I guess, Mich started talking about Nameless as though he were ours. I'm still not sure how this happened. One minute he was playing happily on her lap, and the next minute she was talking about stopping for a litter box somewhere.

He is adorable, and I've been a crazy cat lady since I was about 5, but I tried to talk her out of it. We have another couple of thousand (or more) miles to drive, people's homes to visit, and hotel arrangements which do not involve a cat--however adorable he may be--and cats are notoriously poor vehicle passengers. But Mich was not to be dissuaded. This is an adorable kitty, she says, and Wayne and Jeannie can't keep him. They've been feeding him dog food.

Next, I tried to get her to leave him at Wayne and Jeannie's and we'd pick him up on the way home. Wayne, an ex-over-the-road trucker, quickly pointed out that this would easily add a thousand miles to our return journey. The little rascal hasn't been fixed and needs all his shots, too. Of course.

I was noncommittal when I went to bed.* Chevy joined me and was a warm little ball on my belly all night while Nameless snubbed me.

* Couch.

I awoke to hear Mich discussing Nameless with Wayne and Jeannie in the kitchen. They were calling him Shameless, but I heard "Seamus," and really liked it. So Seamus he is, and Devon would probably be very happy with that name.

Devon asked last night if he could name the cat, and I (still noncommittal but curious) said, "Depends on what you want to name him."

He suggested a string of names, drawn from rappers, like Slim Shady (Vanilla Ice's new name, apparently), and professional wrestlers whose names escape me because I don't follow wrestling and don't care to remember. It turns out that there's currently a pro wrestler on the circuit named Seamus.

I, of course, was thinking of Seamus Heaney, but nobody needs to know that.

Now we're almost to Kirbyville, and Seamus has more or less submitted to the monotony of the ride. We still need to swing by Walmart for a litter box and a kitty halter so we can take him out occasionally. I have no idea how we're going to work him into the rest of the trip at this point, but we'll figure out something. Phelbas will love him, as will Coffee.

As we hit the road this morning, Mich said, "With our naming record, it's probably best that we don't have kids. Can you imagine what we'd call them?"

Probably Spot and Puff.

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