The Key to a Cipher

Posted on October 7, 2002 in Cats

Tracy, like any cat, hides her age well. A grizzled chin betrays the dotage of a dog. The hair of a cat keeps the secret of its age. The first evidence to the observer might be that the feline slumbers constantly; or that it cries more than it had in its younger days; or that it is more sensitive to the cold; or that it struggles arthritically up stairs. I’ve observed all these in this cat of sixteen or more years, but she still deceives us with her spryness, alertness, and agility. She conceals the cipher of her years against every test but one: when I run my hand down her back, I feel her backbone sticking out like a knotted thick rope.