Radley scowls. "Well, obviously you can talk," he says. "It's not a literal question; it's an expression of surprise at discovering it."

He ponders how he'd handle the situation with a human if he said something they thought was rude. He should probably handle this the same way. The cat could not only talk, she was intelligent. It would be rude to treat her as a lesser lifeform.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude," he adds. "Animals don't talk where I'm from."