Half-pint: the cat with no name.

The Early Years

Once he grew up there was no way Half-pint could have hidden behind Shadow.

Most of you won't believe this but Half-pint used to be small. I know but it's true.

When we first took Half-pint home we had decided to name him something along the dairy theme, matching his Holstein pattern. He was with us for over a week before he received his name. Shadow had been easy to name, not because she was gray but because "only the Shadow know what evil lurks in the hearts of kitties..." She spent most of her time with us getting in trouble and leaving Half-pint to take the blame.

Over a week after we had the un-named one at home he was climbing across the back of our futon in the main room. Being who he was Half-pint fell off. No reason, he just fell. Now the back of the futon had a wood back with several cross pieces and braces. Half-pint hit every single one of the cross pieces on the way down. Some of them twice. And his feet were pointing straight up in the air when he landed on his ass. No surprise there.

Anyway, as I rushed over to make sure he was okay I exclaimed... wait for it... "are you okay half-pint!"

To which Guba responded "you just named him."

Special bonus story

Shadow, who passed away after two years with us, was the master of leading Half-pint into trouble. The master.

Go on, no one's around.

Two instances truly demonstrate how Shadow always used Half-pint as his patsy. Both instances rely on the smaller stature of Shadow compared to Half-pint.

The first involved trouble in the kitchen. All we heard from the kitchen was the clinking of cutlery and dishes. Since Guba and I were in the other room we suspected that the cats were involved. I went into the kitchen to discover Half-pint up on the counter with his head in the sink. I immediately yelled at him and squirted him with the water sprayer we kept handy for just this purpose.

As I chased Half-pint out of the kitchen I happened to look back toward the sink. There I spotted Shadow's head popping out of the sink where she had been completely hidden. Popping out like a periscope checking to make sure the kitchen was clear before she snuck out of the sink and off of the forbidden counter. Shadow 1, Half-pint 0.

The second involved a christmas tree.

Cats love christmas trees. They are trees inside! The perfect cat toy. As any cat owner knows you spend a lot of time shooing them away from your tree and the nice dangling cat toy ornaments hanging from the tree.

We were drawn into the living room by noise. Cat batting and chewing noises. We find Half-pint at the base of tree looking up into the tree. Presumably choosing which ornament to knock off next. Once again a patsy as it turns out.

Grabbing the handy water sprayer we once again squirt Half-pint to chase him out of the room away from the tree. After using a water sprayer as a disciplinary tool for a while cat owners learn that the noise of the sprayer is as effective as the water spray itself. This was proven self evident as on the first spray a gray blur burst out of the christmas tree four feet off of the ground to land on the couch and then vanish out of the room. It never slowed down enough to be properly identified but the assumption was that Shadow had been in the tree and Half-pint had been staring at Shadow, not playing with the tree. Innocent again and wrongly prosecuted again.

Since we sprayed Half-pint and not Shadow: Shadow 2, Half-pint 0.