THE TENTH LIFE OF PACAL

Pacal is a cat. He’s lived nine full lives already, each more chaotic than the last. And now, somehow, this is his tenth.

Born into feline nobility, Pacal was expected to be the perfect gentleman cat. Impeccable posture. Clean paws. A respectable career. A noble-blooded girlfriend cat named Lady Purrington.

And thus, Pacal became A hippie cat. An anarchist in fur. A freedom-loving, garbage-can-diving, rule-breaking whiskered renegade.

After nine chaotic lives full of questionable decisions, near-death naps, and an incident involving a alien possum cult (Please, don't ask !), Pacal the Cat was given one final life as karmic bonus :

A very, very chilly morning, in a land where even mice wore mittens, Pacal the Cat opened his eyes and let out a dramatic sigh: Ugh. Am I still alive? Wait… snow?! This isn't the caribbean!"

Yes. Pacal, the ancient wanderer of nine previous lives, had just been reborn into his tenth life. And this time, the universe had dropped him in the middle of Montréal, surrounded by blizzards, cold, snowmen, and humans who thought it was cute to dress cats in sweaters.

He appeared in the middle of a snowstorm. Wearing nothing but fur and a light jacket

He tried to walk, sank, yowled. Got a snowball in the face from a squirrel named Klaus

Welcome to his tenth and final life: The Cold One.

No tuna. No sunshine. Just snow in places he didn’t even know could hold snow.

His first words?

Is this punishment for the squirrel thing? I said I was sorry!

Each of his nine lives was a symphony of poor choices and perfect timing:

Life #1: Joined a squirrel circus

Life #2: Lived under a taco truck for two years

Life #3: Lived in a bookstore and got kicked out for shelving himself in the erotic section

Life #4: Joined a punk raccoon band, betrayed by tambourine cat

Life #5: Faked his death during bath time, Twice

Life #6: Tried communism in a raccoon commune

Life #7: Became the only known cat to get kicked out of Burning Cat Fest.

Life #8: Surfed on a crocodile

Life #9: Fell in love with a streetlamp

All lives: He never really stayed. Never trusted. Never let himself be loved.

Pacal was taken in by three loud human children who named him Slender cat

They loved him aggressively: One dressed him like a baby, another tried to teach him math, the third believed Pacal could talk and kept asking him about taxes

He was stuffed in backpacks, put on TikTok, and once wheeled around in a remote-control dump truck, making him sit through hours of baby talk.

Pacal silently plotted revenge but also secretly enjoyed the snacks.

He tried to apply for a passport using the dad’s laptop. Got distracted by bird videos

Tried to email the embassy of Brazil. Subject line: “Please extract me". He got spammed with “Win a free cruise!” ads instead.

Every time Pacal set one paw outside, this happened: Instant snow between the toes,dramatic coughing fit (like a Victorian poet), full-body tremble followed by flopping down like he’d just survived the Titanic.

He tried to tough it out once. Got as far as the neighbor's yard. Came back with a sinus infection, a missing claw, and two frozen whiskers.

The kids wrapped him in a scarf and fed him chicken soup.

He was crunky but also asked for seconds.

Pacal, naturally, tried to leave many times

He attempted to dig a tunnel back to Mexico

He yelled at the clouds

He demanded an audience with the Universe

After one especially awful blizzard, Pacal sat by the window and whispered:

“I was once a king. I knew the heat of revolution. Now I get sneezed on by toddlers and dressed like a renaissance poet cat.

He briefly considered becoming a monk. But gave up after realizing monks don’t get treats.

But in Montréal, Pacal learned things no revolution had taught him:

Sometimes staying is the bravest thing, socks on your paws are humiliating but effective.

The snow wasn’t just snow, it was symbolic, obviously. A blank page. A frozen pause.A reset. Pacal had always gone against the current. But now, for the first time, he had to surrender.

After a thousand failed escape plans, about thirty sneezing fits, and an incident involving a laundry basket, a snowman, and an innocent neighbor’s shoe, Pacal finally accepted his fate.

He curled up by the heater, his fur all messy, his dignity somewhere under the couch.

And he thought:

Maybe life isn’t about escaping the cold…Maybe it’s about learning which socks make the best pillows, which humans give the tastiest snacks, and which snowballs to avoid unless you want to taste frozen regret.

He looked at the three tiny humans who loved him fiercely, even if they dressed him like a burrito or tried to teach him math

Pacal gave them a slow, judgmental blink

“Fine,” he sighed, “I’ll stay. But only if you promise not to put me in a tutu again”

Just then, a snowflake landed on his nose.

He sneezed. He batted at it like it owed him money

And whispered under his breath: Life’s a lot like snow: cold, confusing, and occasionally a total mess but it’s also impossible to look away.

So finally, he accept his tenth life.