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| Niño & Niña |
At age 76 I know we must travel before travel insurance for
the both of us become onerous. Yesterday (I am writing this February 19), a few hours before we were to leave for
the airport, Rosemary decided to purchase insurance. I had to answer all kinds
of questions on what seems to have been an infinity of possible diseases. In
the end I am insured. I told the woman on the phone that since we were
traveling to Italy the premium should have been double because of bureaucracy.
But she had no sense of humour and I left it at that.
I put Niño and Niña in their cage and took them with all
their blankets, food and food dishes to the Feline Hilton. There I was told I
had to have the cats vaccinated for this and that. I had no choice but to give
my assent.
Niño in particular looked at me with big mournful eyes a
sort of, “Why are you doing this?”
I have stated before that somehow a cat in its essential
catness reinforces our own personal humanity. Niño and Niña make compel me to
feel more human, more caring and more forgiving.
As I drove back I felt myself hoping that the days in Italy
were almost over and I could turn the car and pick them up. They say that cats,
lacking clocks, have no idea of the passage of time. I am not too sure. Will
they think of us while we are gone? Who knows?
But we will have them in our thoughts every day of our trip.
Chances are that our next trip will not be one that comes soon.