Black & white photo of my late tabby cat Cachette. Captured circa 2007 when she was around 7 years old, she did otherwise live a nice long life until 20.

Translated from French, Cachette means a hiding place or hide-and-seek as a game. The French context matters as I had recently moved up to Montréal, Québec, for college studies, but there's also a rather comical incident that played out shortly after adopting her...

She was only a small kitten, and her profile at the shelter said Peureuse, which translates into Fearful from French. Something they cautioned me about, but I welcomed her anyways. But around that time I also happened to be moving between apartments, and she went deep into hiding then.

At some point, I was almost ready to accept she had escaped and been lost while all my stuff was being moved around. Until the very last item was removed: an armoire that looked like it reached right down to the floor from the front, but there was a little gap in the back the kitten had crawled under. That's when I knew she had to be called Cachette 🐈❤️