The Tuxedo Cat

Bailey is the cutest cat you will ever see. His owner told me so. He is black and white, a formal wear type of cat, a feline in a tuxedo. He is a gentleman house cat. Bailey looks like a penguin except, of course, he walks on four legs rather than two and Bailey has a tail. Both Bailey and penguins have heard their share of symphony conductor jokes. Bailey hates water, though he does love to eat fish.

Penguins get herrings thrown to them at the zoo and they catch them from schools in the sub-zero oceans off Antacrtica. Bailey gets a double packed can of brisling sardines packed in spring water when he has been extra good, which is almost every day. With all those omega-three fatty acids in his blood, Bailey has the silkiest coat of any cat in New London County. His black fur is as sleek as the velvet on a fancy man's lapels. His white fur is as primly ruffled as a fancy groom's , a mariachi guritarist's, or an opera affecianado's silk shirt.

Bailey is polite and affectionate. It isn't only his fur that is soft. His disposition is to cuddle and rub and purr with contentment. Whalhead King had an extended conversation with the woman who shares her apartment with Bailey, the Tuxedo Cat. She has never spent the night in bed with a penguin, but she states for the record that she is sure she would prefer a night cuddled with Bailey over a night spooning with a penguin. It takes more than a black and white exterior to make an animal worth sleeping with. It is what is inside that counts.