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So at last, the Elder Statesman gets a word. Since HRH (Batgirl) has finally vacated the office I suppose I should tell you about myself.

She says I’m old. Well, I suppose she is right. I am getting on up there. I’m nineteen by human accounting. That is years. Not days. I know that I am Siamese because my human mother picks me up and sings to me about being Siamese if you please. She finds it quite endearing. I find it quite annoying but you do what you must to please this odd race of people.

I am known by several names, Pyewackit, Pye and even answer to any of the other cat people who reside in my realm. After all, it may mean treats of some kind are about to be shared out. Before I came into my dotage I was quite a good mouser. I enjoyed the light snack at midnight and it made my humans happy. Except for the snacking part.

I came into the McBride Pride as a youngster. I was busy dozing with my litter mates when a huge queen by the name of Jayne Wayne kitnapped me and my brother Tommy. She carried me to a house a long way away. She was not my mother. I do not know why she stole me.

Inside the little white house by the highway there lived the most beautiful cat I had ever seen. She was called Gizmo. One day the door opened and stayed open long enough for me to slip inside and once in I never wanted to leave. I played for hours with the right honorable Gizmo. The humans allowed me to stay. One day several years later my Lady Gizmo slipped out with the sheltie dogs and was never seen again. There was much sadness in the McBride Pride. There was also living in the little white house the queen, whose name was Ariel. She explained to me about disappearances, deaths and the cruelties of the outside world. She allowed me to grieve with her over our Gizmo.

So here we are, a handsome pride with a new queen. We lost our Ariel to the Cat Angel called Death, he took her quickly and left us saddened but wiser for having known her. That is when the highhanded Batgirl took over the realm. She is quite bossy and even the dogs are afraid of her. She claims not to bully little Caroline, but I have seen her.

I was watching her words and know that she thinks Hound to be insane. Well, maybe a little insane, but she at least has an excuse for sometimes sudden temper tantrums. Well, that’s me for tonight. My joints ache and I think if I go whine in my human mother’s lap she might find me a nice tin of sardines. Maybe if I go stand on top of the world.

— Sandi McBride is a resident of Jefferson, who blogs regularly and enjoys her garden and her furry and feathered friends. She is a wife and mother of two sons.