I looked at the picture of Burma and thought to myself, "I think I'll go shave." Then the black cat leaped up onto my lap and nuzzled my beard and I knew it was good and so I thought, "nah - I haven't shaved for 20 years - why start now?"

Even so, I must say that Burma has been a tremendous inspiration to me and so has his brother, Blanca and, come next summer when the snow is gone, I would enjoy going down there to Toronto where I would join the two in chasing butterflies and playing niptag, one of my favorite games.

And what a great neighbor! Not all neighbors are so nice when cats wander into their yards. Mine traps them and hauls them off to the pound (which is not to say that his dog never comes into my yard - no, this is not to say that at all - and do I ever trap the dog? No, of course not. I greet it, and pat it on the head and praise it, as one should). The guy living on the other side of us is good, though. Real good.