The animal had pointy ears and a sleek body covered in short hair. One might have seen something like it in ancient hieroglyphs or as a carved statuette raided from some pharaoh's tomb. A thoroughbred of some sort, it belonged to my brother's friends.
Keith was looking after it while they were on holiday. He was used to the cat, and it knew him.
Never having been spayed, instead being used for pedigree breeding, the cat had balls that any large dog would have been proud of. Whenever on all-fours it had the gait of a prowling lion.
However, Cat, the name it answered to when wanting fed, also liked to drape itself over people's shoulders, wrapped round their necks.
Keith indulged Cat in this.
~
"We're back home. Want to bring Cat and have dinner with us?"
"OK, what time suits?" said Keith.
"Come over this afternoon if you fancy some refreshers before we eat. We'll cover the fare."
They lived in London's Docklands district.
~
Keith let Cat down from his neck so that they both sat in the front passenger seat. Cat was now on Keith's knee, looking straight ahead through the windscreen at the sunny Islington street, readying for another tour similar to one a week earlier.
"Mind if I put some music on?" said the driver, gesturing towards the car radio.
"Yeah, that's fine," said Keith.
The driver reached and hit the on button. The music playing was a popular '80s hit.
After a few bars, the minicab now underway, Cat stretched out a paw and hit the button, turning the radio back off.
The driver swivelled towards my brother, now wide-eyed.
He said, "What ... what kind of cat is that?"
Genesis 1:24-25 - KJV