Dear cousin Elspeth,

The acquiring of a Felis catus, of the Siberian breed, and further designated as a Silver Tabby variety, is seldom a matter of rational decision-making. It is, rather, a swift and irreversible act of natural selection, where the human heart is the environment being ruthlessly adapted to. My own domestication began on a Saturday of 2024, the second last day of the third week of December. Or more commonly know as: the fourteenth of December, 2024.

On that particular day, I was on a wonderful Siberian street with Mother, Father and my numerous siblings, two of which were quarreling. We were near a patch of woods, and we intended to go into the woods to explore.

While we were exploring, I strayed off slightly to the left, and, forgetting for a moment in the winter paradise that my family was on the other side, doing their closely-knit wandering, went off by myself.

I didn't have to go far, before karma overtook me, making me fall on-to the snow. I suppose this is why, Elspeth, you shouldn't laugh at your sister when she gets milk up her nose. Don't make the mistake I made, unless, of course, you want snow up your front, which isn't much of a good experience.

But this fall into the shockingly cold snow, though harsh, when I dusted off, allowed me to catch the gaze of two beautifully blue eyes, the color of dark ocean water.

Startled, I blinked, and that pair of eyes blinked, too. I slowly moved towards the beauty, and, though I was told and warned that cats are afraid of all beings that take the form of humans, this one did not run off, rather, it stayed put. Going slowly towards it, I held out a hand. I didn't notice its trembling, or the loud bearings of my heart, only focusing on that pair of mesmerizing eyes.

Surprisingly, the cat leaped onto my arms, and, though my heart skipped a beat, it didn't scratch me. I rubbed that furry coat, and it purred.

Knowing better than to take animals out of it's normal habitats, I set it gently down, and made my way back to where shouts marked the spot my family gathered, having fun in the trees. But yet another surprise was that the cat followed me closely.

When I reached my parents, they were surprised I was not alone--but in the company of a tame looking Siberian cat. Though we made many attempts, including that of which trowing twigs and running off, as to not be followed; giving it some meat sticks and shooing it away, the car didn't leave.

Giving up, and longing for warm fires and hot chocolate, we gave up, and I tucked the cat under my arm and we left the forest, with a new friend: a small Siberian cat.

So this, Elspeth, is how I got my cat, a pretty, sweet little thing. Say hello to Aunt and Uncle, will you?

Lots of love,
Maisie

24/08/2025.