Mr. Man.  Kazon.  My baby.

Black like midnight.  Loving as though his life depended on it.  Companionship incarnate.

It’s the Mr. Man Show…
…starring Mr. Man!

Derek said those words all the time, amazed at how no one could take my place in Kazon’s world, sometimes hurt and sometimes amused by Panther Kitty’s ability to stand at the door and lament my absence with such brutality that it made Derek cry.  No matter how much he called out to him, Kazon would sit at the door and weep his longing upon the altar of desire with heartfelt calls begging me to return.

Nothing has changed in that regard.  Kazon was, is, and always will be my Baby, my Puppy, the child who needs me desperately if he is to survive.

He’s a Kazon man…
He’s so alive…
He ain’t got no boundaries…
He don’t compromise…

Sung to the stupid Ford truck commercial, that’s my own dimwitted greeting for Kazon from time to time, something I believe most people do when it comes to the animals who share their lives: take a song or jingle and modify it in the name of a loved one.

Kazon doesn’t care though, for he recognizes the salutation and responds to it.

While I think it unlikely, I fear for his well-being should he outlive me.  No one has ever been able to fill that place in his heart that belongs to me.  What would happen to him if I could no longer be his Daddy, his bed and cushion, his savior and buddy?

I wonder.