Sabé the Brat: Our New Loved One

Our new catty kit, Sabé is a cute and terrible blur. She’s lived with us for two weeks now, and our old and elderly cat, Jabba, the shy type, has taken up semi-permanent residence under the loveseat in my office. Sabé hunts Jabba now and then——hiss, grrrrrwl—-and while Jabba appears to take it better than I would, we fear she is living in a state of mild terror. She comes out each night for a petting and then goes back under. She eats with watchful eyes. Meanwhile, Sabé chases with vigor anything that twitches, whether it’s my foot or a ladybug. Her life hinges upon ladybugs—her head swivels in time with each one she spots fluttering near the ceiling lights. As soon as one gets in jumping range, it hardly stands a chance.

Sabé loves us in the morning as we wake, and at rare moments, she lets us love on her while she lounges between sprints of devilry. Mostly though, we’re just background.

Sabé is the name of Queen Amidala’s handmaiden and double in Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace. We learned that George Lucas chose the name because it means trusted friend in the Apache language. So we named our new friend Sabé the Sugar Cat—Sabé, in hopes that she would live up to her namesake, and Sugar because that was the name on her Adopt-a-Pet tag. I guess she doesn’t take to being labeled.