Worm

Stygia: I am going to tell you a secret today, although I don't want it to be a secret any longer. I am going to tell you my True Name.

When Ms. C and Mr. R rescued me from the SPCA, there was a little card on my cage that said my name was "Bear." Ms. C says I probably got this name when I was a kitten, because I am black and you know how kittens look before their ears really develop, they have little bear-ears. But I never responded to this name, so they called me Stygia.

Mr. R invented the name Stygia, from the word "stygian" which refers to the way the river Styx looks -- black as night. This is the name on my medical records and what my people often call me. It is my given name, but it is still not my True Name.

One day a few weeks ago, Ms. C called to me (as a joke, she thought), and said, "Come here, little worm!" How did she know? I thought. I ran to her. She just called me by my True Name! She thought it was a fluke, so she moved away and said it again: "Come here, Worm!"

This was wonderful! She was calling me by the name I prefer, and so I ran over to her again.

She called Mr. R over to witness this because she just could not believe it, and wanted him to believe it. "Here, Worm!" he called to me. With a happy meow, I ran to him.

So now you know the story of how my people discovered my True Name. I prefer to be called Worm, and I respond to it by running to my people when they use it. I am training them well, and we are all happier! Ms. C thought I would never learn my name, but she was wrong; they were just using the wrong one.

PS. Our Mum thought about doing a Veteran's Day post, but so many of you have done such wonderful tributes already. We will tell you what we did today -- our Mr. R is a veteran, and we respectfully let him sleep in today without disturbing him at all! It is the best we cats could do.