"I'm so glad you think so, it's sort of hard to keep saying 'cats' and 'humanoids' and 'talking creatures' and so on."

"I haven't known that word for very long but I don't think I got it right when you said it either, so maybe every cat will know it soon.  And if not you should just tell them; it's a good word."

"I agree. How far off is your housefolk?"

"Not very; she's home this afternoon and home's right up that way."  She yawns.  "Most of the time it took to get to Jerrie and Teazers' place after they sent Presto was it waking me up."

"How useful of him. ...I wonder how he came to this conclusion. Do you reckon it's possible he's smart enough to talk too?"

"Do birds have sexes?  It does talk a little but not complexly.  Presto, say hi."

"Hiiiii," says Presto, in catspeak.

"Hi Presto! - birds do have sexes but I can't actually tell what this one is by looking, Presto just sounded like a boy's name to me. Presto, how many wings do you have?"

"It mostly only talks to me and m.  My housefolk.  Presto, how many wings do you have?"

"Iono."

"See?  Anyways this is my door; you should open it."

"That would be rude of me, we knock instead." Knock knock. "Saying he doesn't know instead of giving a nonsense answer or ignoring me is actually smarter than I expected, I might need to talk to him more at some point..."

"Okay.  We don't knock, though, because if I did then other humans would see my hands and I don't want them to; mostly when I want to go inside on my own I just climb upstairs on the outside of the building or send Presto up to get my housefolk or scream down here until somebody lets me in.  Why is it rude of you to, when you already can open the door yourself?"

"You live here and can come and go whenever you please! I do not live here and must wait for your housefolk to invite me in - maybe once you can talk to her you inviting people will count but for now I think she'd be alarmed."

"You don't have to go in but you should still open the door for me."

"The house is probably locked, and while I can conjure keys, I think it would alarm your housefolk if I demonstrated the ability to do this by opening her door."

"Okay, I'm going to start screaming then."

"If you think that will work better than my having knocked far be it from me to stop you."

"I DON'T THINK IT WAS LOUD ENOUGH."  She continues yowling wordlessly, making an impressive amount of noise for such a teeny tiny kitty.  Presto flies off.  She stops and shortly after that someone can be heard trotting down a flight of noisy stairs.

The door opens without audibly being unlocked.  "Hey, M, did you have a nice - uh, hi."

"Hi! Your cat and I have been talking. - I can speak cat and I can prove it."

"Incredible!  You should do that."

"What would you like me to ask her to do? - she's a girl, by the by. Or so I'm told."

"You could tell me things only my cat would know, or convey any burning questions - she's - been trying to ask me.  . . . Why don't you come inside."