Ben

Okay, I've never actually met Ben, but Ben's mom, Marel Trout, and his sister Gracie have written enough about him to make me feel like I know him. And, through long electronic correspondence with Marel, it's become clear that Odin and Ben are somehow related.

To begin with, they share a Nordic ancestry. Odin is a Finnish Orange, while Ben is a melancholy Dane. Although one hates to generalize about entire nations of people, this could explain Odin's and Ben's deep and complex natures. They are as dark as a Grieg symphony, as subtle as an Ibsen play, and as serious as a Finnish tango. They are both old souls.

Old souls who like to dress up in women's clothing, that is. Ben has been caught several times with a flashlight under his blanket perusing a Victoria's Secret catalog he salvaged from the garbage. He even tried to order once, but the credit card company notified Marel that there were unusual lingerie charges on her card and she cancelled them immediately, much to Ben's chagrin. He has since had to satisfy himself by slipping on his sister Pia's stockings when she is asleep and walking around the house at night in her high heels. (Odin wishes he had a sister so he could play with her makeup.)

Of course, despite the similarities between these two orange cats, there are differences. Ben is part of a large traditional family (2 parents, 9 cats), whereas Odin is the only child of a single mom. Ben, a practicing Buddhist, is much more spiritual than Odin, who in his youth dabbled in the dark arts of runic divination, but has since declared himself a secular felinist. Finally, while they are both artists, Ben is much more avant garde. He tends to work in nontraditional media (see, for example, his groundbreaking work, Mine Urine Valentine.) Odin, on the other hand, prefers water colors, although he is currently experimenting with oils. He says he's going through a Van Gogh period (or maybe he just has a hairball).

Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!

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