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CASEY: “Hey, Gibbs, you’re rocking that new look!”

GIBBS: “I’ve taken up holey orders.”

CASEY: “Don’t you mean, ‘holy’ orders?”

GIBBS: “Holey, shmoley, it’s all the same.”

CASEY: “OK, if you meow so.”

GIBBS: “I’ve decided to follow in the pawsteps of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, among other things.”

CASEY: “What does that involve, Gibbs? Do you have to take a vow of meowlence?”

GIBBS: “Ha, ha, good one, Casey.  Nope, just poverty, chastity and obedience.”

CASEY: “Well, the chastity one’s been sorted. How will you manage the other two?”

GIBBS: “We haven’t got any worldly goods since you peed in the toy basket and Mum had to throw out all our toys. I’m not sure about the obedience one.  That might be a harder fish to fry.”

CASEY: “Will you be a monk then, Gibbs, and go and live in a monkery?”

GIBBS: “Followers of St Francis are called ‘Little Brothers’ so I’ll be a Friar and live in a Friary.”

CASEY: “So, you’ll be eating fish and chips all the time? Living in a Friary?  They probably do a lot of frying.”

GIBBS: “I’m not sure about that.  I don’t know what food they eat, to be honest with you.  I hope it’s something I like though.”

CASEY: “Isn’t that where the ‘obedience’ bit comes in – you’ll have to eat what you’re given whether you like it or not?”

GIBBS: “I don’t know, Casey.  You’ve got me wondering now.”

CASEY: “Won’t you miss Mum and me?”

GIBBS: “Erm, I hadn’t thought of that, Casey.  You might have stumbled upon something.”

CASEY: “Just saying …”

GIBBS: “I might have to make one or two revisions to the plan.  Darn it, I thought I had it all sorted out.”

CASEY: “Well, couldn’t you live in the Friary Monday to Friday and come home for weekends?”

GIBBS: “That might work, Casey. Good idea.”

CASEY: “Then I get five days all by myself with Mum, so it will be just her and me, and me and her, just us two, spending time together, hanging out, while you’re being obedient, eating fish and chips, and then you get to spend two days with Mum, but I’ll be there as well.  Seems like a great idea to me.”

GIBBS: “Oh dear, I’m getting confused now. It seemed like a good idea at the time, Casey.  Now I’m not so sure.  I like spending time with you and Mum.  I don’t want her to forget about me.  She might not want me to come home at the weekends.  She might like spending time with you so much that she won’t want to spend time with me anymore.”

CASEY: “Have you signed anything, Gibbs?”

GIBBS: “Erm, I don’t think so. Why?”

CASEY: “Well, if you’d signed something, it might be a tad harder to wriggle out of, but I don’t think Mum would want you to go away.  She loves us both equally and I know she’d be very unhappy if either one of us weren’t around for any reason.”

GIBBS: “What will I do with my bald spot now? It’s what all the friars have, you know.”

CASEY: “Don’t worry, Gibbs.  Your fur will soon grow back.  Now, it might have been a different story if you’d had a tattoo ….”  

(For those wondering why Gibbs has a bald spot – he had some really bad matts which he wouldn’t let me comb out. At his annual visit for his booster recently, the vet shaved the matts instead of trying to comb them out which would have upset him even more.)