With most of the cats I have owned I have been aware that their love for me could be bought with anyone possessed of a comfy spot and tin opener. Min, on the other hand, deliberately chose us, over her original people, over Lyn the mad neighbour who tried to woo her with food, over the other neighbours who would call to her in the days when she was mostly roaming. And she trusts us. She is happy to see us when we come home and when we pick her up from the vet, she lets us carry her (no one else is allowed to), she sits on our feet if we've been away.

When my nephew was small and he would stay with us I would always make him up a cot in our room and we would have a pyjama party, because of The Fear. My half sister would laugh at me. She is preternaturally calm ... possibly a bit dim.