Cat fight

Literally. About three weeks ago, Emily brought home her pet cat Pilot who has for the last few years been living with her mum in a farming area outside of LA. Pilot is a male cat, neutered and middle-aged in cat years. He seems to be a mix of Siamese, Burmese and something else; a creamy short-hair with brown and caramel points. A very handsome creature and quite a man about town apparently. The area is notorious for coyotes and few domestic cats survive long unless they are kept strictly indoors. Pilot, however, is an adventurous outdoor cat and often amused himself by out-manoeuvring the neighbour's three dogs to climb into his boat. This Pilot achieved while being partially blind. The neighbour, however, was unimpressed and threatened to set a trap in his boat if he ever saw Pilot in there again. So Emily brought him to Sherman Oaks. Poor Pilot. He is much loved, but is confined indoors here. He undoubtedly misses the freedom of the plains but has been behaving very well in his new home.

Feeling sorry for him, Emily thought it would be nice to get him a playmate so she rescued a 9 week old kitten from the pound. Pearl is very similar colouring to Pilot and very grateful to be rescued, very affectionate and sweet. Not being too young, she is already toilet trained. She is also on heat. Pilot is not impressed. The day Emily brought Pearl home, Pilot bunkered himself underneath a big easy chair in the living room and would not come out. If Pearl, or anyone else for that matter, came near him, he would hiss and growl. Pearl, meanwhile, boldly explored her new home and cuddled up to her saviour. The stadd-off was maintained for about 36 hours until finally a skirmish erupted and Emily separated the two, keeping Pearl locked in her room away from Pilot. Over the last couple of days, when she is home to supervise, Emily has left her bedroom door ajar but Pearl, now quite frightened of Pilot, has not emerged. Pilot ventures in every now and then, but is unable to find Pearl. He can smell her, but he can't see her. It's been a week now but no signs of rapprochement.

In the meantime, I've been cast in a delightful short film about a young girl called Ginger who has taken a vow of silence because her family are horrible bores. I'm playing the Narrator (voiceover with a British accent) and also Ginger's mother (with American accent). We had a read-through earlier this evening and are filming on the weekend. It will be a 3 hour drive north of LA to the location! So, a road trip! Methinks it is time to buy a GPS for my car...