True Cat Story

I'm not really a cat person, but my wife is, as was my first wife. My only rule is that I (usually) get to name them, and I usually name them after revolutionists, not necessarily of the anarchist variety. One pair was Sacco and Vanzetti; a current pair are Rosa and Karl.

Maybe 35 years ago, the first wife adopted three kittens. I named them Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky. One day Lenin just suddenly died in his sleep. If I had to guess, I'd guess some kind of congenital heart defect. A few weeks later Stalin chased Trotsky into the street and he was run over by a car.

I don't remember what happened to Stalin. He may have been given away while I was overseas.