Lapochka, which is Russian for "little paw" (or "dear little paw"  or "da-a-a-arling little paw", depending on how much charm he is oozing at any given moment) arrived in the pouring rain of a summer Monday morning after a trip through the steaming streets and subways of New York. 

His conveyance was a flaming orange cat bag bought by the kind stranger who had plucked him up out of the apartment building hallway where he was abandoned by his former mistress. 

This angel stranger passed him on to a friend who processed him through the vet, having him shorn of certain delicate bits of anatomy, poked with a few health-giving needles and declared fit for a new life.  After suitable recovery time, I collected him and brought him home, anticipating all the normal symptoms of new arrival (vanishment to the deepest, farthest corner under the bed, abstention from food, from grooming, etc.)  Instead, after aproximately eleven minutes, Lapochka was master of all he surveyed, gliding langorously about, rubbing his facial pheromones in even distribution on all critical surfaces throughout his new bit of real estate.  

The word Lapochka, by the way, is unaccented.  Can you say "Lapochka" without accenting any syllable?  Don't feel bad.  Neither can Lapochka.