Hi there, My name is Charlie.

I am a black and white cat and quite handsome if I may say so myself. You have probably guessed I am a boy. I am seven years old, so I am neither that young nor that old, although it is said that I behave as one much younger than my age. Hmm.... don't know about that though.

I live with four other cats and my human mum and dad.

Of the four cats, one is my real mother and one is my real brother. I believe my brother and I are twins, but I do suspect we have two different fathers. I say we are twins, because our mother gave birth to us both the very same day. My claim to two different fathers is because my brother looks nothing like me. I have also heard our human family say that he is a tabby, so you will most likely know what I mean. We have never met our father or fathers. They just took off, not wanting to know.

The other two cats in my family are an adopted sister and an adopted brother. The latter was here long before the rest of us arrived. He is beautiful, so big and powerful, yet so gentle. We all look up to him. That is, apart from my mother. But then again, she doesn't look up to anybody other than my human mum. Well, that is really a very long tale, and a story to be told some other day.

We live in the country, with stone terraced mountain sides all around us. They say the terraces go as far back as the Moors and I actually believe that, when I see the state some of them are in. But, in all fairness, if they really go back that far, then they are quite well preserved. So we have plenty of room to roam about.

Also, around here there are hardly any of those machines with four wheels, that move very fast and which make a God forsaken noise to our sensitive cat ears. I believe they call them cars. I have also heard them being called tractors. Well, as we are way out in the country we are all quiet safe.

I love my human mum and dad very much, but there is something that annoys me a lot. They always tell other humans that my full name is Charlie Chaplin. Can you imagine that!
Just because I happen to have a black marking above my mouth that looks like a moustache, and which also has a tendency to fall to one side, they have the cheek to call me Charlie Chaplin!
But I have to say that when we are alone they never call me anything other than Charlie.

I also love them very much, because they took in my mother, when she was pregnant with me and my Brother, rescuing us from a life in squalor.

The last point I am going to make in my introduction is the Houdini thing. Yes you heard me right. Houdini!. I am actually good at that. From day one I have managed to escape, when my Humans thought they had made it impossible. It's not that they don't want me outside, but there are times when they prefer all of us to be kept at home. Now, I understand why, but in my youth I made it a sport to be able to get out of the most difficult situation. What a laugh. It drove them mad though. They came up with better and better ways of keeping us in, yet I always manage to get out. I will admit, I was the only one doing it. The rest of my cat family got the message and just stayed in. But from then on my human mum and dad have called me their wee Houdini. I quite like that and take it as a compliment.

We all come in at eating time in the afternoon, early evening, and in the cold time of the year we are kept inside from then on. I think we all prefer that, rather than being wet and cold outside. So we curl up on our cushions and have a well deserved sleep after all our exploits.

We pretty much obey our human parents, but we do have our little goings at them. I think we have educated them very well to give into our ways. The secret is to manipulate them so they don't really realise it. Wicked, isn't it?

They do adore the attention we give them. I for one, get right up close purring away, looking them straight in the eye with a look of pure adoration. If that doesn't get what I want, I roll onto my back, all four paws in the air and get them to scratch my tummy. Just what I was after all the time. It always works.

Another one is, that I hate if they read a paper or a book, when all I want is their attention. I look at one and then at the other to catch their eyes, but they just read on, totally ignoring me. Apart from the fact that I find it rude, it also annoys me a lot. Well, what I then do, is to jump up on the table in front of them walking straight onto whatever they are reading. Oh, that does get them going! Mostly, they get angry with me and they shove me off the table with some angry words, but I just keep on doing the same routine until one of them give in. It is usually my human dad. He is the softer one. My human Mum is not that easily fooled. But it's good fun all the same.

And then there are the early mornings. Oh, I love to be up at dawn, and I am usually also very hungry by then. I look at our bowls, but they are empty more often than not. I then proceed into the bedroom of my human parents, who will still be deep at sleep.

I don't really want to wake them up, but my stomach is growling so badly that I decide I have to do something about it. I then proceed to jump up into their bed, but that doesn't wake up any of them either. I then go up and lie unceremoniously on my human dad purring away like mad. He doesn't even stir. Most annoying that! I then look at my human mum who is unconscious too. Well, all there is left now is that I poke her, preferable in the face, making sure my claws are not out. Oh, does that work wonders... She gets so mad at me that in the end she stumbles out of bed and fills all our bowls. She then hurries back to bed still half a sleep.
Mission accomplished!

When they finally wake up, the door is opened, and we all pile out. A new day has just started.
What a lovely cat life!