Fat Belly Button Cat

My family has a 'tradition' of frequenting an Indian buffet at the weekends, where we try not to eat too much. Declan (14) no longer attends, perhaps because it'd be too humiliating to be seen in public with us: but Jack (11) tags along gamely, rightly thinking that the benefit of the food outweighs the cost of being with the parents.

This pin is an obvious choice on such a day, reflecting both my present and future state of rotundity, tempered with a look of slightly bewildered disappointment: "how did I get to be so fat?" Note the complete absence of guilt though. Food and guilt never go together as far as I'm concerned, which is probably a crime in California. Food and guilt are both contiguous and synonymous here, but I rage against the machine.

All references to myself aside, I like the proportions of this cat, which are in marked counterpoint to Skinny Cat: yes, the same designer made both pins, and initialled them both with an "M". I like his stubby limbs, the hint of fur at his edges, his belly button and his little head. This fat cat was made of silver in 1995, but that's as much as I can tell you.