Marginalia, no.50

Of all the animals, man appears to be the only one who enjoys this peculiar pleasure of writing.  This is unfortunate, as it would be interesting to read the written works of the dog, the cat, the fox, the hog, the hippopotamus, and others, did they commit any.

~ Rose Macaulay, Personal Pleasures

The crows that loiter outside my office are writers after a fashion.  Too often I’ve had the pleasure of reading their generous commentaries on the hood of my car.  They must prefer to compose on Japanese rather than German makes, since my coworkers are always spared – or perhaps it’s just that my coworkers actually wash their cars from time to time.  If my cat were to write a book I think it would read something like Mein Kampf.  She’s a wicked, embittered creature that takes easy offense at her human captors and will blithely resort to tooth and claw even with the children.  Thankfully, she’s shown no particular interest in scribbling down her manifesto.