SARO: (Sitting on the window-sill, tail twitching) Ah! Ah! Ah! Look at those birds! They wouldn't be so blithely hopping around on the wire if I were outside! No indeed! They would flutter frantically, but even so I would creep and leap and catch and CRUNCH them! Ah! Ah! Ah!

ZILLA: (Rolling on a patch of sunlight on the rug) Prrrrt? I feel so warm and melty; I really can't talk right now. In fact, I can't walk right now. It's all I can do just to drag myself across the rug. (She hooks a claw into the carpet, drags herself a little way, then flops over onto her other side and continues lolling in the sun.)

SARO: I caught a bird last week - my deadly dexterousness was amazing to behold! I leapt, I pounced, I dodged and feinted, I clawed left and right, I bit and tossed! - but once the bird was dead I wasn't sure what to do with it. I yowled repeatedly to announce my kill, and brought the carcass to Jenny several times, but she kept throwing it outdoors. She doesn't seem to appreciate fresh meat. I wonder what's wrong with her?

ZILLA: Are you talking to me? Because I can't listen to you right now… I'm too busy rolling in the sun. How warm and melty and dizzy I am! I love everything! Prrrrr!

SARO: That is a nice, warm patch of sun. And, as usual, your ears need washing. I don't know how you manage to pick up so much debris. (she begins busily washing Zilla)

ZILLA: Yes, mother... You are my mother, Saro, aren't you?

SARO: Yes, dear. Why, I remember when Jenny first brought you home. What an annoying little interloper you were! I was determined to rip you to shreds, but then I realized you needed someone to take care of you. I decided it was going to be me, and you've been my very own personal offspring ever since.

ZILLA: (purring and beginning to make kneading gestures with her front paws) Oh yes, I remember that… And now you're my very own darling mother. And Jenny is my mother, too.

SARO: (still washing) Yes, I expect she must be. She smells very familiar and comforting, and she feeds us and pets us, and she's always lived with us. (she pauses thoughtfully) If only she wouldn't give us those flea baths!

ZILLA: (not purring) Are you talking about the terrible soapy-water torment?

SARO: Yes! That nasty smell, the horrid sloshing, noisy, clinging-all-over-me water, making me feel so strangely heavy as I scrabble helplessly in the tub! (shakes herself)

ZILLA: (continuing the thought)…And then she takes me out of the water and wraps me up and croons to me, and rubs me all over while I struggle to get away. And then she feeds me tuna! Isn't it strange?

SARO: Very strange! I don't know why she does it! I expect she just doesn't know any better, or possibly she's insane. But she is our mother, and we must humor her.

ZILLA: Yes. It's our responsibility.

SARO: Exactly. If we don't humor her and take care of her, who will?