My cat, Marlowe

This is one of my two cats. He’s a mask artist.

When he was a kitten I gave him one of those string ornaments to play with. He used to bite the edge of it, and it would flip, almost going over his head. One evening, as I was hosting a dinner party, one of my guest said, “Kitten! What have you done?”

I had nightmarish images of the kitten dipped in paint and looked under the table, to see this tiny black kitten with a giant white bubble on his head. After dying with laughter, I pulled it off the poor thing. Five minutes later he had it back on. Our best guess is that looking through it makes him think of tall grass. When it still fit over his entire head, I painted it like a jack-o-lantern for halloween. None of my guests believed me that he liked it.

He’ll greet me at the front door with it on, occasionally falls asleep wearing it, and will run from one end of the house to the other with it on. I bought a twelve-pack of the balls, because he does wear them out. And yes, he can take it off on his own. He’s an odd, odd cat.

If it weren’t for the fact that so many editors have a strong aversion to cat stories, I would totally write one about Marlowe and his helmet of invisibility.

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12 thoughts on “My cat, Marlowe”

  1. Oh my.

    I love your cat. I normally don’t mind cats much; I lived with them my entire life before leaving for university and not since.

    That can I can get behind.

    Go Marlowe!

  2. My other cat treats him with utter disdain when he has on the helmet of invisibility. Although, after years of putting up with it (he’s been doing this for about seven years) she did try putting the basket on one day. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen an animal learn an unnatural behavior from another. She almost immediately took it off again and looked deeply offended.

  3. Oh, the mask painting possibilities. One for every season or event! 😀 Thats just too cute. I love all the different odd things cat do.

    Good thing thats not my kitten, otherwise there’d be a Cthulhu mask being made as we speak!

  4. Christina: I thought you’d like to see what you were getting into. He also likes to be held upside down. Like a bat.

    PodMonkeys: It’s been awhile since I’ve painted one. I suppose it might be time to up the ante on his performance.

    Patrick: When you guys come down for Orycon, I should have you over so you can witness the joy that is Marlowe in person.

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