Bringing Sage home from the animal shelter was when I realized that I wanted to operate a rescue. Poor Sage had spent an entire year at the shelter. For some reason, no one was interested in taking on a friendly 12-year-old cat with no other health problems.

Now Sage is 15 years old. He’s part of the “Tuxedo Twins,” my black-and-white bed buddies (the other is Snickerdoodle, who’ll I’ll introduce later).

At first, Mr. Sage rarely left the bedroom. He was afraid of the dogs (there are two that live here) and felt most secure where he could hide. Today, two years later, Sage sits on the stairs and scolds the dogs while demanding that I come and make sure there’s food in his bowl.

And if I take too long, he goes downstairs and helps himself to the dogs’ food.

Sage had been a standoffish cat until Snickerdoodle came to live with us. Now he has a friend. Or at least a doppelganger who can confuse me.

Maybe that’s his plan. He’s a clever one, he is!