Complex Numbers

Purrfectly Dark

And suddenly, March. I made it through February. Yay. This one wasn't as bad as most, but still not as great as the February I spent on Maui.

To celebrate, my final entry into this round of "Journalistic Intentions"  [18+], which features a cat prompt: Lounge  .

Ever notice that most black cats aren't black?

Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just the way genetics interacts with kitty development. You almost always see a bit of white on a black cat: maybe the whiskers, maybe just a patch of tuxedo white on the chest. Even absent that, fur color depends in part on lighting. My cat Robin, for example, is so black that she blends into both my blanket and my mood. Cat camouflage. Sometimes you don't even see her unless she blinks, revealing the yellowish-brown eyes most black cats have (those come from the same source: melanin). Her nose is black. Her toe beans are black. Hell, even her whiskers are black.

Until you get her out into the glare of the accursed daystar, which is when you discover that okay, maybe she's not black; she's a very deep shade of brown.

Robin is also usually silent. Making no noise at all when she walks, she passes her stealth check every time. I think I've heard her meow twice, both times very quietly, in the seven or so years I've lived with her. Unless the lights are on, the only way I know she's there is I hear the double thump as she leaps off of some place she shouldn't be. But sometimes, yes, like most cats, she purrs.

Even Robin, though, has three fibers of white hair on her chest, as if to say "I'm not a black cat, really; I'm not." But being a cat person, I possess several statuettes of Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess, in her regal pose, like this one.   (I hope that link works). And Robin looks exactly like that when she's seated.

Thing is, though, cat fur color is only loosely correlated with cat behavior. While I've never had a calico that wasn't neurotic, I've heard that many of them are not. Contrary to popular belief, some orange tabbies are highly intelligent. Not all white cats are deaf, though the lack of melanin is sometimes associated with deafness. And black cats certainly aren't bad luck; they're just hard to see at night.

They're all just cats, and they're all different.

I can't remember ever choosing a cat, so it's not like I seek out certain breeds or coat patterns. Mostly, they were chosen for me, by parents or roommates or wives. Or the cat itself. But one day I'd like to adopt a mysterious raven-black tomcat, and name him Edgar Allan Purr.