Oh, you have TWO cats?

I have two cats and a husband.  They look like this:

Generally, people assume that the husband and I have only one cat, because we constantly talk about Moby. Moby Moby Moby.   Moby destroyed my Xbox controller!  Moby ate my lipgloss.  Moby knocked over the TV!  Moby bit our landlord.  Moby yowled all night.  Moby ate your cereal while your back was turned for two seconds.  Moby is about to bite your cellphone!  Moby tripped me on the stairs.  Moby stole a chicken breast out of the frying pan.  Moby, get off of that!  Moby is... you know... MOBY.  

Mezzaluna, on the other hand, doesn't really lend herself to tale-telling.  I mean, I don't come into work on a Monday morning and say "Oh my God!  My cat just laid there and looked cute all day!  It was amazing!  You should have seen it."  On the other hand, "Hey, guess what?  My cat attacked my landlord while he was trying to fix the dryer, and the landlord called me while cowering in another room to ask me how to escape, and I had to help him bait Moby with a bag of treats, lure him into the bathroom, and lock him there so he could bandage his wounds/finish fixing the dryer.  Our landlord hid from Moby!" is a good story, and one my coworkers found hilarious.  

The invisible second cat problem is compounded by the fact that Mezzie considers herself to be in a never-ending game of hide and seek with the rest of planet earth.  She is afraid of the entire world.  Everything not normally found in our apartment is terrifying.  Houseguests, groceries just brought in from the car, the wind... Mezzie finds all these things necessitate her spending hours in the closet.  So, even people who have been to our house... several times... do not necessarily know we have a second cat.  They'll sure remember Moby, by the bitemarks.  But Mezzie, who is a snuggly chubby little ball of fuzzy love for us, won't generally come out to meet new people, and if they get a glimpse of her, all they'll likely see is a fleeing grey streak with bouncing belly.

Still, Mezzie's exclusivity is part of her appeal.  I like having a companion who will share her affection with only her select few people.  It makes me feel special and privileged.  I know that anyone who stayed in the house for a few days and had a ready supply of kibble could earn the love.  But that's not the point.  The point is that I have an invisible cat, who, like my childhood invisible friend, loves me best of all.