The mismatched duo

My daughter and I ended up with these two kittens from two different litters when a little grey tabby kitten with white socks turned up in a trap with a younger set of kittens. He was high-strung and mischievous but not wild.

Meanwhile a litter of kittens came in very feral except for this very mellow black female with riveting brown eyes and an angular face like an Egyptian princess.

Our foster cat godmother put them together hoping one would be a good influence on the other.

We normally name our foster kittens after deities in various world religions. We started with Greek gods, Roman gods (Mars and Minerva are still with us), and Norse gods.

But these two were roommates and not siblings, so did we want to waste a pantheon on mismatched kittens? I suggested Elohim and Yahweh as a shout out to the Abrahamic traditions and the two versions of the Old Testament as they refer to the same God via different authors.

But the teen vetoed that.

So what else has badass attitudes that could apply to cats, other than deities? I offered rappers. And we decided on Em (short for Eminem) for the male kitten and Shady (short for Slim Shady) for the black kitten.

Em is inquisitive, climbs like a monkey and rolls around in his water bowl. He’s a rough-and-tumble boy.

Shady is the sweetest, calmest kitten I have fostered. I can carry her with one had, her little butt pressed against my heart and her head under my chin and sits there as I go about my business.

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