Trixie and Brixie

2Summers | 13 December 2022
johannesburg cats brixton

As I write this, I’m sitting in my aunt’s house in chilly Sleepy Hollow, New York. But let me backtrack a couple of weeks to a summer day in Johannesburg, South Africa, when I was typing away in my home office and a skinny black kitten walked through the open glass door. She crept right up to Trixie’s food bowl, meowed a couple of times, and began eating voraciously.

I let her eat for a minute or two – she was clearly starving – then I put her back out on the deck and closed the door.

Brixie outside
My first photo of Brixie, who was undeterred by the closed door.

I’m not sure why I bothered trying to eject her. I already knew from previous experience that when a determined feline decides to join your household in Joburg, there is little you can do to stop it. And this cat was clearly determined.

So now we have a new cat. Her name is Brixton – we call her Brixie – and she’s five or six months old. She’s a classic tuxedo – black with white paws, white neck and chest, and a dainty white mustache. She loves rolling around on the floor, sleeping, and pooping prolifically in her litter box.

Brixie
Brixie made herself comfortable in a hurry.
Thorsten and Brixie
Thorsten wasn’t so sure about the idea of adopting another cat at first. But Brixie quickly wrapped him around her little claw.
Brixie under chair
I mean, who could say no to this face?

Trixie, Brixie’s unwilling older housemate, is not crazy about this new arrangement. But she’s slowly coming around, and Brixie is smart enough to give Trixie her space.

Trixie
Trixie wistfully remembers the good old days of being an only cat.
Trixie on the bed
The bed is still Trixie’s domain and she has made this fact very clear to Brixie.
Trixie and Brixie in the lounge
Trixie and Brixie do occasionally co-exist in the same room – usually on opposite sides.

I’ve been dragging my feet on publishing this post, probably because this is the first new cat to come into my life since the departure of Smokey, the Melville Cat, more than two years ago. The Melville Cat always wrote his own posts, but Trixie never took to blogging and I doubt Brixie will, either. (Neither Trixie nor Brixie have the same regal sense of entitlement that the Melville Cat had.) Nonetheless, I think it’s important for Brixie to be formally introduced to the 2Summers world.

Brixton the cat

I’m sure Brixie will make occasional appearances on the blog in the future. And the Melville Cat’s Instagram handle lives on with occasional posts by Trixie, and now Brixie. Please follow them.

The blog will be on hiatus for the rest of December as the Blogitects enjoy a holiday in the U.S. (Trixie and Brixie will be well cared for back in Joburg.) Happy holidays!

Brixie the cat