MATTY

He used to come and spar with Blackwell through the pane of a slider door.

Matty.

A cat who belongs to our neighbor.

Doug had told me once that Matty is well fed at home but insists on coming into houses and begging for food.

Well.

SWMBO, also known as The Softie, said that he looked so pitiful one day as he politely raised one paw as if to knock and uttered a plaintive soft "meow."

So she let him in.

Muggles shows interest in him but she pretty much ignores him these days.

Notice I said "days".

Yeah, he's become a regular visitor.

He follows us around in the kitchen, rubbing against our legs and calling in his soft voice.

But all he gets is an occasional taste of dry food from Muggles' bowl and he doesn't seem to care for that much.

So he wanders around, checking things out, playing viciously with a catnip snake, and finally he settles down for a nap on our couch before leaving to continue his neighborhood roaming.

He always goes to the exact same spot for his nap.

I wonder, do cats dream?  

Muggles certainly does, sometimes twitching in his sleep and waking up suddenly with a wide-eyed squawl.

I think Matty dreams too.

"Now if only they'd buy some of that tasty canned cat food!"