Please Meet Socrates

I want to introduce you to Socrates. We found each other on Friday, at our local Humane Society. Beeper and I always go out together on Friday afternoons to do a little something fun together, and we decided we would visit the Humane Society this week. In my defense, it was supposed to be just that, a visit--one that only involved some looking and maybe some petting...but I suppose thinking that it would be that was quite naive. Especially if you lost your beloved cat a couple of months ago. But about Socrates...

He was the only cat in the entire place mournfully meowing for all he was worth, in addition to sticking his entire paw up to the shoulder through his cage bars and waving it around maniacally, positively pleading for release. Naturally, he caught our eye. But then the clever volunteer sidled up and slyly informed us that Socrates only behaved that way because he loved to play. Oh, and also, did we know what a lovely, friendly cat he is? And then she went in for the kill--asking us if she could take him out from the cage so we might pet him and just play with him a bit. To which Beeper, of course, nodded so vigorously I thought he might give himself some sort of shaken-baby type of injury.

So, there we were--in a little room, with Socrates, and a few toys. And I am sure you can only imagine what happened--Socrates did his damnedest to show us how very good he is at playing with little boys who are 5 years old and making them dissolve into hysterical giggles, and then he sidled up to the mama, rubbing his head against her, looking inquisitively into her eyes, and asking, "Meow?" A real professional, I tell you.

You can see now, we didn't even have a chance. Resistance was futile. We just rolled over and said, "We'll take him." I think the whole visit took about 10 minutes from entry to committing to adopt Socrates. We were like injured wildebeests come to drink at the lion's watering hole--easy prey the moment we walked in.

But he is the perfect cat for us. And I do mean, perfect. He is so adoring and affectionate and ridiculously tolerant of Beeper and most importantly, does love to play (endlessly). He and Beeper have been inseparable--tossing and chasing balls, reading and cuddling in Beeper's teepee, and even watching birds together out the window.

Socrates was a stray kitty. He had been at the Humane Society an entire month--hard for me to believe no one else found his manic meowing and paw waving as irresistible as we did. And Socrates was the name he came to us with--and despite my offer to name him BatKitty, Beeper was adamant that we keep the name Socrates. We really do not know why he was named Socrates...perhaps because he does love to engage in dialogue (if you talk to him, he always has something to say back to you).

Whatever the case, he is part of our little family now. Curled up in a patch of sunshine as we speak. A bit of good fortune found at the Humane Society (and like public libraries--isn't the Humane Society such a good, good thing?), even if we were easy prey.