"I... You can’t..." I meant to say that he couldn’t talk, or maybe that he shouldn’t be able to talk, since he already was. For some reason his name seemed more important. "You called yourself Valven. That’s not your name. I named you myself when you were just a kitten."

Cats can’t smile. Their lips are not made for it. Yet, you always know when a cat is especially happy by looking at its face. A cat will narrow its eyes in a self-contented way that is as much a smile as anything a human can do. Velvet looked at me with those smiling eyes. Just the same, there was a touch of sadness there.

"I liked my name, too," he said. "But it doesn’t fit me here. Here I am Valven, Jarrett."

"Gerrald. My name is Gerrald."

"Yes, just as I said. Your name is Jarrett."

"No, it’s..." What was I arguing about? How many people would be upset because their cat couldn’t pronounce their name correctly?