Mandi

THE KITTEN who recently adopted me is already spoiled, and I have no idea how it happened. It seems like she was spoiled from the git go, but how could that be, when she's lived outside, homeless, her entire short four month life?

Aggresively affectionate, already, immediately spoiled, but how, having lived in "the wild" of my quiet small town neighborhood her entire life? Its almost as if she inherently knew that human beings are the way to go, the ticket to a happy life. (good luck with that).

She just started coming to me. Showed up on my front porch everyday. Looked through my window, straight into my eyes, straight into my heart. Now she lives with me, and I adore her.She's wilder, 'n hell. She forces me to think about how i treat her, and to treat her right. She's gorgeous, adorable, soft, fuzzy, panther - like.

Are we humans so mudh different from our dogs and cats?  A good friend of mine who came to america from shanghai spent several months here, learned a lot about americans, and made the cogent comment "you americans are the loneliest people in the world. You care more for your dogs and cats than you do each other."

You got that right, charlie. We really do care more for them. On surveys, ten per cent of the americna people indicate they prefer dogs and cats to other people. Perhaps its surprising the number isn't higher. Dogs and cats ar made for humans, and vice versa.

Mandi is a great snuggle kitten. One thing for certain: we americans are most definitely not lonely.