When Phillip K. Dick converted to Christianity (Anglicanism) he developed a strangely Jewish idea of G-d and the devil. You had the defender and the adversary. After death, your defender would justify everything you did, while the adversary condemned everything.
Why am I telling you that, you say?
Well, this morning I found the defender, personified. Only it was the cats’ defender.
To explain, we have a lot of flower pots with plants around, and because we also have cats, we keep the plants atop the china cabinets in the dining room.
Only one of those potsis in any way good, or has any sentimental value: it’s a small majolica flowerpot, right now hosting three lucky bamboo plants. It was a wedding gift from one of my more deranged but nice relatives. (I mean what do broke 22 year olds need who asked specifically for either money or easy to carry things because they’re going across the ocean by plane? Majolica flowerpot, of course.) Our other pots are thrift store finds and no big.
This morning I entered the dining room with a bounce in my step, looking for coffee, and realized I was walking on…. dirt.
“Why is there dirt and leaves all over the floor?” Ask I.
And my husband stands up and says, pleadingly, “Okay, but in their defense, they were very hungry kittens. You see, you forgot to fill the automatic dispenser. They were very very hungry. And okay, they toppled the pot and there’s dirt everywhere, but they did not break the pot.” Then with a puzzled look at Indy, “I don’t know why he’s eating dirt, though.”
Me “He’s trying to hide the evidence. And you’re aiding and abetting, just like you used to do with the kids!”
Him: But they were very hungry kittens! Dirt eating hungry kittens!”
… and there you have it. If I’m ever in trouble I want a defender like that. Not only didn’t I yell at them, I gave them extra food. All because he talked me into it.
We're told that we have that defender.