Backwards was the first kitten to make for the outside but preferred to roll in the basket with Trisse. The world could wait. Now Backwards is staggering forwards, somehow bumping into other kittens he remembers from basket-life as he explores the wide garden room. Coco swipes at and chews any kitten she meets: this obeys the unwritten kitten law. Wrestling matches are brief, however, when the wrestlers forget what they are doing.

Lil's four kittens are safe and thriving, their characters fully on show. Coco has learned to fence with my finger and after a fencing lesson she chews it. One day this will hurt! Lil watches all this giddy play with a steady pride and confidence. Though she is puzzled by the kittens' sudden whirligigging, she continues her motherhooding with perfect steps and orderly suckling sessions.

Amid all the world's strive and idiocies there are four growing kittens in a room by the sea, learning all they will need to know to enjoy their portion of life. Each kitten-step seems like a note in a song, a hymn, the score of a life narrative written on an ancient scroll tied with a whisker.