Prison Pets: a metaphor

I've got cats! There are 3 of them and they are cute and mean and cuddly and claw-happy and they purr and hiss.... They're a lot like me.

They are technically feral, but they grew up here in prison... this is not a metaphor, though the more I talk about them the more it seems like it. Buford is covered in scars, Smoke is muscular and taciturn, and Tech 9 likes to climb trees and ambush people... check, check, and check! This is uncanny.

What is really interesting though is that these cats are so personable. Buford and Tech will crawl into your lap (Tech may take a swipe at you if you try to force it) and Smoke... well, he's not the most social of antisocials. It took me about 2 weeks to get him to eat form my hand, but now he comes to my window every night for food and to just stare at me like a creepy stalker.

I feed them all here and there. I figure I'm doing a good deed and saving some of Joey's pigeons (Joey Testa, mob hitman. He takes care of the birds. they land while he feeds them) because Tech and Smoke are... let us say, in touch with their na

ture and like to stalk and hunt the birds. Buford, the only thing he hunts is a sunny spot to lay himself down.

What I mean to say about them is that they are testaments to how well people have treated them. Everyone knows that cats are moody and hold grudges and will plot on anyone they deem have transgressed or offended them in the slightest: that is what most cat-lovers love about them and what the other 90% of the world can't stand..

How many thousands of people have they known over the years? From Gino who feeds them all to the trans girl who picks up Tech like a baby (try it, I dare you) and the long-haired guy who looks like he reads to them... These cats have it good.

I think that is the metaphor.

P.S. They all run when they hear the keys of the guards. That is a metaphor too.