This was so despite a family—mother, father, older brother, and sister—that loved him. As for school, his teachers treated him fairly; he did what he was supposed to do and received passable grades. But if you were to ask Tom what the future held for him, he would have replied that, other than getting older, and hopefully taller, he expected no change. In short, Thomas Osborn Pitzhugh—better known as Tom—found life boring. One day Tom was sitting on the front steps of his city house doing what he usually did: nothing. As he sat there a short-haired, black-and-gray cat with gray eyes approached and sat down in front of him. For a while the two—boy and cat—stared at each other. The cat spoke first. "What's happening?" he asked. "Not much," Tom replied. "Doing anything?" the cat asked. "Nope." "Just hanging out?" "I guess." "That something you do often?" "Yeah." "How come?" the cat inquired. "I'm bored." The cat considered this remark and then said, "You look like my kind of friend.
