The person (it was a lady with a lovely soft voice) said they would try. She asked Mr. Baxter our names. He didn't even know! So the soft-voiced lady gave us each a new name. When she came to me, she said, "What a fluffy, cuddly golden cat. I'll call you Fluffy!" Well! That didn't suit me at all. My name was Aloysius! I decided to act VERY aloof so she'd see I wasn't a Fluffy.

This was a whole new life…and not a happy one. We were put in a cage with a couple of other cats, and we could see other cages, but there really wasn't much room to play.

The other cats told us this was a "shelter," and you only stayed here until someone who wanted a cat came and took you home. I was glad I had my mother and my brothers and sisters here with me. We were such nice cats, surely someone would take us home soon!

We'd been in the shelter two weeks, and lots of people had visited the shelter and looked at us. Sometimes they'd say how pretty I was, but I made sure to be dignified so they'd know Fluffy wasn't my real name. More time went by. It was getting to be springtime outside. Oh, how I wished I could go out and play in the fields and chase butterflies!

Finally someone came to took two of my brothers and one sister out of our cage. Visitors cooed over them, and they left the shelter with new people. I was sorry to see them go, but I was happy that they had a new home. And I was still dignified like an Aloysius should be. More people came. Finally, one sad day, someone took my mama. I was the only Baxter cat left at the shelter. I was too lonesome to remember to be dignified.

One day three ladies came to the shelter. They said they worked in something called the ABCD Bookstore, and the Bookstore needed a cat. They looked all around, and admired some silly gray kittens. "But they might be too playful," said one. "Look," said one of the others, pointing to me. "That one looks a little more dignified." I did my best to tell them I was Aloysius, a cat with considerable class, but the third lady said, "Oh, look! His name is Fluffy!" I looked around the cage for Fluffy, ignoring the bookstore ladies. But they ignored my ignoring them.

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