“Your beard is so fluffy, uncle Josh.” Kyle says, sitting in his lap and pulling on his short, finely trimmed beard.
Stephanie looks a little nervous, but I almost hear her thoughts of, ‘it’s just Josh, however much he’s changed it’s still him.’
No Stephanie, you were right the first time.
Emily pets me backward, and I inch out from under her hand.
“What made you decide to grow a beard, Josh?” asks Stephanie.
I can tell she has so many more questions but is trying to limit it to the polite ones.
Mittens laughs.
“I thought it was about time to change things up.” he says.
He looks less comfortable than normal, perhaps because my sister can see he’s not me, even if she denies it to herself.
I rub my cheek on Stephanie and give a long, unhappy meow. I wish I could talk to her, catch up on what’s been happening.
“I think he wants something. Maybe he’s hungry?” says Mittens.
Stephanie looks even more puzzled. Mittens uses my words and intonation, but somehow he doesn’t sound like me.
“I want to see you feed him!” screams Emily, causing Stephanie to shush her.
“He’s quite a sociable fellow isn’t he?” remarks Tim as we all head over to my food bowl.
Mittens throws away the remains of my food, quite unlike I would do, and pours me more from the bag.
I almost forget that I’m not hungry, seeing my sister’s whole family watching me and waiting for me to eat.
I sigh inwardly and make a show of grabbing a few pellets and crunching them up.
See, little Emily? It’s a cat eating. Not that exciting.
But she sure looks excited.
“How old did Fluffy live to?” asks Stephanie, referring to my last cat.
“I’m not sure, I wasn’t keeping track.” says Mittens smoothly.
Stephanie frowns tensely.
“Didn’t you say after Candycane died that you would ‘celebrate every birthday and keep track of how old they are?’”
Mittens freezes, then says stiffly,
“I didn’t end up doing it in the end.”
Yes I did. Fluffy was seventeen.
Stephanie doesn’t say anything, and even the kids are silent until Mittens says,
“Shall I go to the kitchen and whip up some food for you?”
Oof. He sounds even less like me when he’s nervous. I’d only say ‘shall’ if I was joking, and that was not a joking tone at all.
Stephanie’s husband and kids look at her after he’s out of the room.
She strokes me and says to me,
“He’s just not like he used to be.”
I meet her eyes, willing her to recognize me, but she just talks as if she’s confiding in me.
“I wish you guys could have met him before… whatever happened.”
“Did something happen? An accident, or a traumatic incident?” asks Tim.
She shakes her head, then pauses.
“Maybe. But I haven’t heard anything about that.”
She isn’t looking at me any more. If I meow they’ll just ask Mittens what I want again.
Emily’s hand descends and starts petting me backward, and I shudder and back away.
“Stop he doesn’t like that,” Kyle objects, shoving her aside and petting me so lightly I almost can’t feel it.
“Don’t push your sister! And Emily, he’s probably right.” Stephanie says, her mind snapping back to the present.
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