Reina Isabel Dos ruminates on mortality

Isabel Dos was diagnosed with feline leukemia, a misnomer because it's not cancer. It's an immunodeficiency like H.I.V. that makes her more vulnerable to what cats are vulnerable to. Despite the vet visits, she maintains her lovely and rather regal temperament.

Only God knows what difficulties cats face in botanical gardens. She will lose one of her two remaining canines soon. No matter how much we feed her, she feels as light as a dream. Her purr sounds congested, but she leaps and lives with as much fervor as when we first made her acquaintance, tempted by a dulce de leche ice cream that warm May afternoon in Buenos Aires.