I bought new shoes the other day, and when I got home, I absent-mindedly tossed the empty box on the bed--and quick as lightning, Monika was in it.
Not just in the box, but immediately posed in the box, with her front paws wrapped around the front, her chin resting on them, her eyes watching me as if to say, "Adorable, isn't it?"
Yes, of course it was. Honestly, I don't think Monika has spent a minute of her life being anything but adorable. Even when first born--a time when all kittens are hideous and rat-like--her mother quickly groomed her gray fur so it was not only clean but fluffed out, and she squirmed her way over to me, and though her eyes were still pressed shut, she looked up at me and let out a tiny MEEP. I, of course, fell in love.
She's always been that way--not only physically beautiful, but poised. And clever; she knows how to present herself, how to be cute and coy and whatever she needs to get all the attention she feels she rightly deserves.
Then there's Delmar.
The shoe box eventually found its way to the floor, whereupon Del tried to claim it for his own. In his first attempt to climb inside, he tipped it sideways. I straightened it out and he tried again. He climbed in and just sat there awkwardly. It's a big box--my shoe size is 12 1/2--but it looked tiny compared to Del's massive bulk. He's less rangy than he used to be, and has finally grown into his body, but as he attempted to curl up inside the box, he resembled nothing so much as a teenager who has just experienced a growth spurt. His limbs popped out in opposite directions, and the sides of the box bulged out. Every time he shifted his weight--something he tends to do a lot, as though uncomfortable in his own form--the whole thing would teeter back and forth.
He owns the box now. It's still too small for him, but he fits whatever he can into it, and the rest hangs over the side. It's splitting at one of the corners, and Del's half-tail thump thump thumps at the tear line, making a dreadful sound. It looks incredibly uncomfortable, but it seems to suit him. It's a place in the world Del can call his own, and he's as happy as he knows how to be.
