Crazy Stable

It was a weekend of new arrivals here. Behold Charlemagne, the kitten cute enough to make your head explode. Perhaps "Charlie" should instead be named "Craig," after the list through which we found him; he was delivered to us on Friday afternoon by two delightful and determined young people who have begun their own pet-rescue operation in Bedford-Stuyvesant (with essential tactical assistance from the young lady's patient mother and her minivan). Charlie and his coal-black little brother tumbled out of a carrier for their audition; Charlie's combination of clowning, sweetness and swagger (and his brother's penchant for hard nipping) won the day. The Child, needless to say, is in a dream-state of girl-meets-kitten ecstasy, which was the whole idea. Poor Charlie will have to live in quarantine in the ground-floor sewing/guest room until he is old enough to check out negative (please God) for various transmissible kitty viruses--which means about three more weeks in purdah. This isn't such a bad thing, really; the CrazyStable is full of kitten-size holes and crevices, and the two big cats--Lexi the 17-pound Diva and Cocobop the Jackass--will have time to get over themselves about the new baby. (Right now, they sit outside Charlie's door looking stunned and disgusted; brief introductions have been marked by perfunctory hissing but no attempted disemboweling on either side.)

One More Great Thing About Charlie: He has a fantastic motorized purr, which is a nice addition to the cat portfolio since the two big guys both have rather soft, conditional purrs. Since we lost Raffles (another cat set to AutoPurr, Loud), I have missed hearing the throbbing engine of cat bliss.

Okay, One More Great Thing About Charlie: He is still downy. It was one of the signs used by our wonderful vet to estimate his tender age of six weeks or so. Plus, his whole face is still on the end of his nose, and he tried to suck milk out of my earlobe. I'll try to stop now. But...it...won't...be...easy.

Oh, and there's a fresh human denizen of the Stable this weekend: a new tenant for the Apartment, a young man who has graciously absorbed the daunting contents of the CrazyStable Tenant Tutorial without visible distress, including the vital sections on Alarm System, Pipes (anti-freezing and -clogging strategies), Cats (escape prevention),  and other complications. He has met Charlie, and refrained from observing that he signed up for a shared hallway with two cats at large and will now encounter three. Decent fellows downstairs; may they all be happy here.