Annika came into the bedroom tonight triumphantly holding the new book she wants to read: Time Cat. Apparently, its about a cat that can talk and time-travel. It starts in Ancient Egypt (appropriately enough, I guess, for a TIME CAT). The cat is black and has red eyes and a white ankh on its chest. His name is Gareth.

I don’t feel like Gareth is an appropriate name for a TIME CAT. I mean, it’s a fine name and all, but it just doesn’t do the idea justice. I feel like Sapphira or something more TIME CAT-ish would be better.

Additionally, all cats can time travel in this book. Annika says, “you know when you can’t find your cat and he is hiding out somewhere but you don’t know where? He’s actually time-traveling.” I LOVE THIS IDEA SO MUCH. If I was a cat, I would definitely time travel back to ancient Egypt to be worshipped and adored. Also, I love the play with object impermanence. It’s probably an age-old story: what happens to our pets and our toys and our house when we’re not there. Toy Story, the Velveteen Rabbit, The Brave Little Toaster, the Secret Lives of Pets… so many stories about the hidden lives of our companions, sentient or not.

I love using this as a prompt in writing: write the story of one of your objects/toys/pets when you aren’t around. What are they thinking about? What wild adventures are they having? What do they think of you?

Anyway, Annika is telling me the story of the TIME CAT so I need to go and listen to that a little more and get to sleep. It’s late for both of us.