Let me tell you a bit about Kiko.

She’s the cat we rescued from alongside the Kahala Hotel in September 2024 when she was about 5 months old.

We learned right away that she is, as we were once warned about Kinikini, “a bit of a biter.” These are meant as “love bites,” I think, but human skin is thinner and more vulnerable to bites than that of the average cat.

One of her favorite things is to just somehow teleport herself into my lap while I’m sitting at our dining table with my 15″ MacBook Air open in front of me. Usually she begins by registering her appearance with a quick run across the keyboard, or sometimes a slow walk resulting in a window closed or a computer user logged out. But then she’ll run off and I assume she’s gone until I realize I’m unconsiously stroking Kiko as she sprawls out across my lap, her head always pointing to the right.

And here’s where I discovered Kiko’s other trait. She is a drooler. When she’s happy, she drools! Not a few little drops, mind you. She is a prodigious drooler as long as the lap is available and the petting continues.

I finally documented the scene earlier this week.

First photo: I realize that Kiko has quietly arrived and taken up her position on my lap. She’s wide awake in this photo.

Middle photo: Here’s Kiko in a more traditional view. I stopped the petting momentarily to get a few photos, but when the petting started again, Kiko relaxed and melted.

Bottom photo: I mentioned she is a drooler, and this picture shows the extent of her drooling during a typical session. Well, I admit this may be a bit more than average.

She doesn’t do this to Meda. It’s reserved for my lap and only when I’m sitting at the table concentrating on the computer, while stroking the cat is sort of on autopilot.

We arrived home last Saturday night after a week in San Francisco.

Our arrival seemed unremarkable, but I was shadowed through the week by each of the cats, although Bessie is too timid to venture into our bedroom where she risks being chased out by Kinikini. Territory is still important in the world of cats, I guess.

Kinikini, Kali, and Kiko appointed themselves my medical assistants and accompanied me whenever I ended up in bed for an afternoon nap or an evening’s sleep.

Meanwhile, after a few days at home, I finally felt good enough to pick up a camera when the light was right. The cats cooperated.

I forgot to note that tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of Kinikini’s adoption on April 4, 2021. It was Easter Sunday, and I drove up to the top of Aiea Heights to pick him up. He had just recently been diagnosed as FIV positive, meaning he has a compromised immune system and may at some point need special care. But you wouldn’t know it so far! He has proved to be a very, very good cat, and harkens back to those early days when I spent hours alone with him in our front room, trying to coax him out from his hiding place under our futon. He is returning the favor multiple times over by sticking with me these days!

Okay. No more editorial commentary needed! Here come the cats.