lolotehe

In the dining car, Mr. Benjamin sat at one table with Xiuying across from him. He inquired after the Sauvignon Blanc but she declined, so they had sparkling apple juice instead....

“Oh...” Xiuying sighed. “Pull the bunks down. My ankles are swollen from all that running and I need to put my feet up....”

“My fur is so much shorter,” Xiuying said, “and it’s not thick like...like your father’s. Yes, it’s changed a little recently, but—”

“That’s why they’re always over the river,” Mrs. Friedman said. “Your mom and I were swapping some recipes.” She winked at Xiuying. “Just avoid fish for a while. Especially the oily ones....”

“It’s not a risk I can take right now,” Xiuying said, holding herself tightly....

Back before Thanksgiving, I bought a couch. I've never bought a piece of furniture new before, besides a couple office chairs or desks.

The old couch was purchased at Salvation Army by friends and they gave it to me when they moved. So, it was used-used before I had it. Comfy enough, with two reclining seats and center that folded down with drink holders. An absolute monster.

Habitat for Humanity is one of my favorite charities and I've bought stuff for the house at their Re-Store many times. Salvation Army can suck a bag of dicks and Goodwill was not accepting furniture donations.

My only problem was I couldn't get the couch out the front door by myself. Luckily, they said the driver was allowed to come in for it. I said I'd help and he said he had a guy but I explained it wasn't that hard, we just had to rotate it. Once you have the second person, it's a snap.

When I showed him what I meant, he started laughing. "I see it! You know all about this! This ain't your first rodeo!"

So, farewell, old couch. Go make someone happy.

The kitten books are really about music. Figured I should put some playlists together so you can hear what each one is doing.

I. Veritas Violin we meet the cast
II. Avuncular Adventure Ivan's point of view in Singapore
III. Cornett de Couer Dmitri shows us life at the orphanage*
IV. Maternal Mystery back in the town with Pavel
V. Bellicose Banjo Alexei's story


*There are two tracks Youtube would not let me add to a playlist, as they are for children: a song about fingers and one about making a pizza.

I swear, this scene. Quebecois French is so different from European.



The orange and white passenger laughed when Alexei came out of the house. “Tu as une blonde petite!” he shouted at Duncan.

“Ta gueule!” Monsieur Duncan said.  “Elle n'est pas ma blonde.”

The driver, a tortoiseshell girl yelled over the passenger seat. “Mais elle est si jolie! Dépêchez-toi et embarque.”

Monsieur Duncan started to crawl in the back hatch.

“Is this your family?” Alexei asked.

Monsieur Duncan shook his head. “School chums.”

Alexei waved at the two cats in the back seat. “You want to be journalists, too?”

“Reymund will be police,” the Persian girl in the back seat said.

Her companion, a black cat, nodded. “Musette is fashion.”

“How do you handle the rust under the battery?” Alexei asked the driver. “What about the fuel hoses?”

“Ta blonde aime les chars,” the orange and white cat said.

“La vôtre aussi,” Monsieur Duncan snapped back.

The orange and white cat shut the hatch. “We go to a movie.”

Monsieur Duncan said something to Alexei through the back window of the car, but she couldn't hear him.

“Allons-y!” the orange and white cat said, getting back in the car.



There's like, three things there that don't translate easily.

The Kittens K—Ivan, Dmitri, Alexei, and Pavel—all live in the same house now. They’ve recorded an album with Mr. Spencer at his studio and now face their greatest challenge: school.

But, Tuesday is Halloween! While the kittens try to pick out costumes, their uncle Harold prepares for a performance on the grand pipe organ at the concert hall. Meanwhile, their cousins Jeanine and Angela are going to cotillion classes and becoming proper young ladies.

Add to it all, Xiuying is coming to town! While Mr. Benjamin tries to get things ready for his new wife, the kittens find some interesting clues at the local library that may help find their mother and Pavel learns things about his father—his real father.

While the house holds new mysteries, everyone discoverers more about their mothers, and mother-to-be

I was up at Northwest and I-35 this morning and swung by the Starbucks to grab a sandwich.

If you check on a map of Dallas, this is pretty much in the center of a LOT of men's clubs (Titty bars! Strip clubs!). I figured the dancers frequent this particular Starbucks.

ME: Everything's shutting down. Are the clubs still open?

BARISTA: No, they're closing, too.

ME: Does that mean everyone's twerking from home?

The only reason I grabbed the sandwich there was we had a mandatory meeting scheduled for my usual lunch time. I was totally ready to ask "Do you think it's wise to collect a bunch of people together in a room for an hour-and-a-half?" but by the time I got back, it had been rescheduled to take place in "Teams" instead of one of the conference rooms.

Everyone is realizing it could have been an email.

The Kittens K—brothers Ivan and Dmitri, their sister Alexei, and cousin Pavel—have arrived in Singapore to help their Uncle Harold locate the whereabouts of their long-lost Aunt Calliope and their other cousins.

But first, they meet Mr. Benjamin’s aunt and uncle: Elizabeth and Felix. What did they know about Miss Elephi and TUXI? How did one cat teach another lullaby to three generations and across the world? And what is the origin of a flock of birds able to imitate anything they hear?

The kittens learn the songs of Singapore and the history of a mysterious flute from two years ago. It seems the Veritas Violin wasn’t the only magical instrument in the world, so just what is TUXI planning?

As the kittens discover more about their own family, they also uncover unfortunate truths about Mr. Benjamin, a cat who—in the end—has other plans for them.

Mr. Benjamin and Pavel were at a shooting booth. The cat running the booth had his ears back and was lashing his tail.

Pavel was already holding two large stuffed animals. “For the orphanage,” he told Dmitri.

“Once you know how misaligned the sight is,” Mr. Benjamin said, “the correction is easy to make.” He fired three times and hit three targets.

“Which one would the gentleman like this time?” the booth operator said.

Mr. Benjamin turned to Dmitri. “You pick. Which would they like the best?”

Dmitri looked at the two Pavel was holding: a bear and a rabbit.

“If you get the big snake, a whole litter can hold it at the same time.”

“Is the snake a popular one?” Mr. Benjamin asked the booth operator. “Maybe, we could trade the others. Or would it be better to get several little ones?”

The booth operator reached behind a counter and pulled out a bag. “Would twenty little bears make you go away?”

Uncle Harold folded the paper and placed it carefully in his breast pocket. “Right now, we’re in the middle of a new kind of war. There are no big battles and it’s not fought by soldiers. Not the regular kind, anyway.”

“A cold war,” Mr. Benjamin said. “A very special kind of world war. America and her allies are the first world. The Soviet Union and its allies are the second world.” 

“Everyone else,” Uncle Harold said, “those who don't matter or haven’t picked a side yet—are the third world.”

---

“They have secret missions, like this trip,” Ivan said. He turned back to Dmitri. “They work for a government to fight in the...cold war.”

“What’s a cold war?” Dmitri asked.

“It’s a kind of world war,” Alexei said.

Dmitri’s ears flattened. “The world’s at war again?”

“No,” Alexei said. “More, a war between worlds.”

“Like with Martians?” Dmitri asked. “Space is cold, isn’t it? Why are there Martians in Singapore? Is it because they want all our water?”

Ivan lashed his tail. “They aren’t worlds like that.”

“Is there going to be another laser?” Dmitri asked. “Do we get ray guns?”

Alexei shook her head. “No, we’re fighting the Reds.”

“Mars is the red planet,” Dmitri said.

“There are no Martians!” Ivan snapped.

Dmitri looked very disappointed. “No spaceships, then.”

Well, now that everyone's been in that room for a while, they've calmed down a lot and their personalities are starting to show.

Mercury: I'd let you pet me more, but you keep cleaning my face.
Venus: I'm the biggest kitten and I know it. Bow before me!
Gaia: I have developed EARS. You may now scritch behind them.
Mars: I love you. You are my safe space. No, don't get up.
Jupiter: You should put your hand on me and feel how soft I am.
Saturn: When you're close, I can see how big your mouth is and it scares me.
Neptune: I'm gonna climb your leg. From inside the pantleg.
Pluto: I don't know if I want you to pet me. We can still hang out.

I gave them a small cardboard box today and instantly regretted not bringing a camera with me. They all tried to get in it at the same time, then they tried to eat it. Someone got so excited, they peed in the box. Goodbye, box.

Mars' eyes are clearing up, as are Saturn's. Mercury's are still messy. Jupiter still sneezes. Looking over things, it's the kittens who still have gunk in their eyes who are the least outgoing, so maybe they can't see that well.

The gas-giants all have very round faces. Mercury and Mars have kinda pug\Persian faces and the rest have long noses. It doesn't feel like they're all from the same litter at all.

They're still on .05cc Doxycycline until the 1st. Of course, everyone has diarrhea as a result. No one's lost any weight, though, so I can feel good about that. We're just doing straight Iams kitten (dry for open feeding and wet after everyone is weighed and gets their meds). I have a bottle of pedialyte in case we have to rescue anyone, but I doubt it will be needed. For a bunch of "sick" kittens, they're all doing pretty well; my smallest is 1 lb 8 oz. At six weeks, that's not bad.