Mr Grey was a neighbourhood cat who used to wait, vigil-like, for his turn when The Cat was seasonally afflicted of the desire to reproduce. His devotion to her went beyond the usual ritual wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am of feline courtship; he would sit on the wall, his eyes lovelorn pools, sometimes staring whimsically into the garden, seemingly happy to be vaguely near his beloved. It was Personal.

Then he metamorphosed. He became nasty, a fighter – and a nasty, sly and underhand fighter at that. He would come into the garden and lie in wait for Ana Half-Tail. Mr Grey wanted to fight. He wanted to fight Ana. There were no two ways about it – he wanted to kill Ana. He wanted the garden and he wanted The Cat. So Mr Grey became The Evil Grey. It came easily to him.

After an absence of over a year, a grey cat came again to the garden. The garden was lacking a tom cat since the departure of Ana Half-Tail. This cat didn’t look particularly like The Evil Grey and he didn’t behave like him, excepting his devotion to The Cat. He started to partake of food left in the garden for passing felines. He seemed friendly (the only exception being biting one of the humans in an impatient moment in the breakfast queue). He was named Sunday after the day he arrived, and he became a regular visitor, both in and out of The Cat’s hormonally-induced season.

Then Sunday disappeared. When he came back, he was thinner and had visible and deep wounds – puncture wounds sustained from fighting. It transpired that Sunday officially resided at a pet shop nearby but preferred the company of The Cat. His owner disliked him due to his aggressive ways and he spent much of his time muscling in on other cats’ territories and pursuing his hobby – fighting.

The Cat’s garden appeared to be his retreat and, from a safe distance, he was likeable in an odd sort of way; he was given the benefit of the shadow of doubt that his previous behaviour cast over him. His name was still Sunday and he was still the most regular visitor to the garden. As regards his relationship with The Cat? That was still Personal.