This actually is not a gamer topic; it’s just a gamer title. The character is not imaginary, but neither is it someone over whom you ought to shed any tears. I will not be asking for a moment of silence.

My wife is an animal person, and the consequence is that we always have far too many animals in the house. Cats believe it is their task in life to have kittens, so there are kittens several times a year. Most of them die; fading kitten syndrome is rampant in this part of the country. The trick is not to become attached to them before they have reached the point at which they are survivable.

The latest litter contained one kitten who distinguished himself fairly early. Eyes barely open, he crawled over the eight- or nine-inch rim of the box and started exploring. I wanted to name him Dora when I thought he was a girl, but on confirmation that this was a boy he was dubbed Lewis Clark.

Lewis proved his intrepidity on more than one occasion. He went from our bedroom to our bathroom, into the at the access point for the tub and shower pipes for the other bathroom, and from there into the basement below, not once but twice. On one occasion he crawled into bed with me and spent the entire night snuggled up, shifting to a more comfortable location each time I shifted; the particular oddity about this is he had no problem with being under the covers, and seemed rather to prefer the warm dark enclosure they created.

Kittens, however, fail to thrive more often than not. His two siblings are in need of nutrition even now, as the mother cat seems to have decided they are too old to nurse, but has not introduced them to alternatives (they do not yet have teeth adequate to the cat food). I have been instructed to acquire kitten milk substitute, but since we don’t have a veterinary superstore around here they might have to survive on half-and-half (which is a diet I would relish myself, but is not all that good for kittens). Lewis died in the night; his siblings have not yet distinguished themselves adequately to be named. It is sad to lose one, but particularly to lose the one that was already friendly, outgoing, and trying to integrate himself into our lives.

In other news, I did not wind up driving our houseguest home last night. It was decided that someone else would take him today. That frees up some of my time, although I’ve had a few holes punched in it here and there by kid commitments.

In fact, I should be driving the boy to his audio-visual/stage crew orientation session now, so I think on that note I will, for the moment, vanish.

–M. J. Young