yes, i am a pirate 200 years too late

“Look, the one who poked out has raccoon eyes” Shawn said as a baby kitten peered at him from behind a box under the house at Turner the Page. Well, that kitten didn’t have raccoon eyes. …even more diabolical, she had a pirate patch of black fur over one eye. Without even knowing her personality, her name was immediately clear: Jean Lafitte. …named after one of the most storied pirates in New Orleans history. Jean Lafitte and his younger brother Pierre were blacksmiths on the corner of Bourbon and St. Philip street in New Orleans. …by day.  While they may have been forging horseshoes in their Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shoppe in the late 1700s, they were also reported to have been pirates, secretly running gold up the bayous of South Louisiana in pirogues to the Shoppe at night, to be quietly sold.  There are many stories of early citizens of the French Quarter who from time to time would see gold shimmering in the building through a door left cracked open by accident at night. We may never know what is true and what is fiction about the Lafitte brothers, but we do know this: Lafitte the cat has lived up to her namesake a hundredfold. Not only does she clearly have a pirate patch, she will also plunder things and hide them. She’ll gain your trust just enough to swindle you in some cat way. Heck, she even has a pirate snarl in her unique meow. Some day it will not be surprising at all if she begins to play poker or ask for a bottle of rum, or try to steal one out of the cabinet. (she probably doesn’t know rum is the reason pirates never ruled the world, but that’s another story).

…one thing is certain, the biggest thing Lafitte ever has stolen are the hearts of Miss K and Shawn, and has been a blessing to all who’ve met her. Her full name she’s definitely completely earned: Jean Lafitte la Petit Catsmith. …and Jean himself would be so proud of her.