Elgin has been my friend since kittenhood. He belongs to no one but himself but my human gave him the name of a watch manufacturer because of his promptness in showing up for meals. "Meow, fellow feline, how goes it?" I ask Elgin in the telepathic manner employed by cats from birth.

"Don't ask,' replies the cat. ' I was courting and someone threw rocks at me and thenI had a lively debate with another tom."

It was at that moment that I noticed that El's ear was torn and that there was a bleeding scratch across his handsome face. He also was limping from a wound on a hind leg. "When are you going to give it up and stick closer to home, El? My human is pleased that I stay in when she wants me to."

"You've got reason to stay in, Tab, your operation......and you even allow humans to make you wear that bell on your collar so that every bird in the area knows when you're around. When are you ever going to assert your felinity and be independent?" Secretly I liked my bell but I wasn't about to admit it. I enjoyed the tinkling sound it made when I ran and, even more, my bell meant that I had a home and a human who, in her odd human way, cared for me. "Let's not go into that, El, let's go have breakfast instead."

And that's exactly what we did.