My newest sibling

Two weeks ago my mom finally relented and allowed my father to get a new cat. They adopted a long haired grey cat from the animal shelter and brought it home... Where it promptly disappeared. Searches later revealed it to be hiding behind the dryer. Later it was under a couch. Then it was under a bed.

My father would have to lie on his stomach to coax the feline out from its hiding places, and this has been the pattern for two weeks. (The creature had been a stray, and then locked up in a cage for 5 months, so some shyness was expected.) He's been working on essentially "taming" the cat for human company.

The funny thing is though, the cat has decided to like everyone BUT my father (for whom the cat was purchased in the first place). A few days ago, when my parents were lying it bed, apparently the cat jumped up and was sucking up to my mother (who hates cats) and totally ignored my father's overtures.

For my first 24 hours at home, I didn't see the cat either. I heard it eating food and using its litterbox, but never laid eyes on it. Then yesterday, in the middle of the night while my parents were out of the house, I woke up to find a black mass at the bottom of my bed.

It was a bit disturbing to realize there's a creature on my bed that I've never lay eyes on. I managed to coax it within hand reach whereupon I started to pet it. The next thing I know, the cat is with me for 2 hours, cuddling, etc. I finally got up and went downstairs just as my parents came home. The cat disappeared again. The stupid feline hisses and growls when she sees him.

We're trying to think of names for the cat now. The people at the shelter called it "Mumsy" because it recently had a litter of kittens.

Our potential names include:

• Invisi-cat
  
• Phantom
  
• Reaper (because my mom used to tell my dad he could get a cat when she was dead.)
  
• AWOL
  
• Houdini