Me, too! But now I'm curious, who is the Prophet Jeff? I assume an
ex of yours? But you've stayed friends with him? That's unusual, and
if true, it's pretty special.

Joyce

Thanks, Sam!

Our Cast is as follows:

Friedrich Amadeus Von Beethoven, AKA Fritzie, AKA the Great Cat: My late great
Fritzie, whom I had from perhaps 6 weeks of age to a few weeks before he would
have turned 19. He was named for two composers, as I was going through my
introduction to classical music then; and a psychologist named Fritz Perls, whom
I believe popularized the Gestalt theories. (Anyone, feel free to correct me if
I'm wrong, my father actually chose it and it was his excuse; I also know he'd
seen a certain pornographic cartoon "Fritz the Cat.")

The Prophet Jeff: my ex-boyfriend Jeff. He of all my friends knew Fritzie the
longest, and was responsible for the concept that a purr is the sound of good
karma directing itself to the earth for benevolent purposes.

The Girlfriend/Caretaker Elizabeth: Yours Truly.

He Who Is Named Buxees But Everyone Calls Him Louis: My husband Louie, who is
very much responsible in my maintaining friendship with Jeff.

David, Tom, and Mitch: three men whom I tried to get involved with, and none of
whom Fritzie liked. These are also the Yutz, Jerk and Pig Amongst Chauvinistic
Males. David and Tom just got smacked and hissed at a few times. Mitch
especially ignited Fritzie's contempt; the cat really did pretend to scratch
litter over his shoes, and ignored him whenever he visited. Later I learned that
Mitch was involved in a movement called Christian Identity, which is a racial
hate group. My adoptive parents had been in the Nazi camps and I will have
nothing to do with this kind of intolerance. I'm glad I learned it before I
married the bum. After this I took very seriously the reactions of my cat, or
any pet, to initially meeting a person; they seem to know things you usually
don't pick up on right off the bat.

The Boss: The higher power of any belief system, God or Goddess.

Bob Dobbs: the parody-messiah of a parody "religion" called Church of the
Subgenius.

Brandy, Stosh, Roxie, Odessa and Bozer: Our cats now. In the fourth story I had
Fritzie having gone to "retirement" and speaking to Brandy because she's the
youngest of our four, and wasn't yet born when Fritzie had crossed the Bridge.
So I tried to make it as if the others were indeed here (as they were,
physically) being prepared to take on the Work of the Great Cat, and Brandy was
to be the last one to make her journey to join the Mission, chronologically.
(actually, she was the third cat we adopted. We got Stosh first as a seven-month
old kitten; Roxie was two years old; we then got Brandy eight months later,
another seven-month kitten; then Odessa, who was only a year and a half old.)
Bozer was my mother's dog, who was Fritzie's good buddy when he was a kitten;
that worthy dog passed to his retirement at the venerable age of sixteen, when
Fritzie was less than 2 years old.

Blessed be,
Baha