Well, I have constant discussions with Zippy about going out. Being a very smart cat, he has very good arguments, like he wandered freely where we used to live, crossing the street and everything and never got in trouble and brought us really fresh mice as presents. I mean, what else does a cat have to do?

But the street where we live now is busier and, even though Zippy is good, he's not that good. And a couple of days ago, I cried on my way to work when I saw a cat that had been killed in the road. Zippy may not understand this but it cleared my thinking.

Sometimes I don't realize that Zippy is a cat. He's so smart and so much a part of my life that I can't tell him from the humans (except that he looks better and has better manners). But he is a cat, and doesn't have the whole picture about how dangerous the human-run world is.

Zippy stays in, and I'll just have to make his indoor life worthwhile with sophisticated intellectual pursuits.