Obligatory Pet Reference, No. 1

These are my cats, Booger and George.

Booger is the grey striped one. She is half Siamese, although you can't tell it by looking at her. You can sure tell it by listening to her, though. She has a lot to say and she ain't afraid to speak up at any time of the day or night.

George is a female. She got her name because of Fate or Kismet or ESP or Eerie Conicidence or however you prefer to think of it.

She was part of a pair of nearly identical kittens. Her sister had the same features but with black on the opposite side of the face and white on more paws.

DD, then about 15, was holding the box the two of them were in as we brought them to their new home. We'd agreed that we'd each claim and name one of them. She had chosen to name hers Metallica for obvious reasons and to call her "Talica" or "Tally" for short.

I was still pondering a name for mine while I was driving. The name "George" kept popping into my head and I kept ignoring it because this was a girl kitty.

But then I remembered my favorite character in Nancy Drew was a girl named George, and I thought George Sands and just when I was thinking in those terms, the kitten popped her head out of the box again and my daughter poked her back down and said, "You're just like Curious George!"

That did it. How could I ignore such an obvious communication from the cat herself?

I must say, it suits her.