Charlie’s stitches are out, his imperial purple retired, and he’s now reduced from Carolus Imperator to his more usual titles, Charlie Bean, the Bean of Beans and Baron of Beasts.

Having said all that, he has three shaved patches, one quite large, and here in Seattle the weather recently gave us a taste of autumn, wet and cold, so for a while he looked less lordly than like a bedraggled and mange-riddled alley cat. His fur will grow back—and at least his skin is very dark, so the shaved patches don’t stand out too starkly (unlike the last time George got hurt).

As you can see, the main scar is pretty big, but much of its length is already almost perfectly healed—just that middle quadrant that’s less than pretty.

The first day freed from his suit he limped a bit, but that’s a thing of the past—cats are such creatures of the Now—and he’s back to his sentry duties.

Having said that, he’s not above looking pitifully at his bigger brother every now and again until George takes over for a while and Charlie can retire for a quick snooze behind the big jasmine pot.

Sadly, one of his duties that he has not felt able to relinquish is Warmer of the Wheelchair. Here he is on Saturday—before the rain started (and back in the same position yesterday, the day after the rain stopped)—vigilantly ensuring I must stay on the deck in the sunshine to read rather than doing some work.

So, basically, everything’s back to normal except the fur. And time will take care of that.