What Do a Snail And a Cat Have In Common?

We don't get the Cartoon Network in our household, so my kids have never been exposed to "Spongebob Squarepants." Yet, at the library a few months ago, James walked up to me with a "Spongebob Squarepants" video. "Let's get Spongebob," he said. Where he found out about Spongebob, I'll never know.
So started our family's love affair with the cartoon. I started half watching it with the kids, soon found myself laughing out loud to it. Not only did I find it funny, I could totally relate to the characters. Patrick reminds me of my kids, and Spongebob Squarepants reminds me of myself. And Gary the Snail is a complete knockoff of my cat, Molly.
Like Gary, Molly is a very coy, demure creature. She only weighs 8 pounds--she looks more like a kitten than a 13-year-old cat. I call her my model--she takes very good care of herself by drinking lots of water, eating very little, and getting lots of sleep. She's very skittish and stays far away from my rambunctious boys. My husband hates her, and she knows it, so she stays far away from him as well. So the only person she interacts with is me. She follows me around the house, meowing. She usually wants something from me, like, "Meow--open the window." Or "Meow--turn on the faucet so I can get a drink of water." (I don't do that anymore now that I'm more environmentally conscious.) Her meow is a dead ringer for Gary's. It's very calm and convincing: "Meow--you will do my bidding."
In one episode of Spongebob, Gary latches onto Patrick. Spongebob goes along with it at first, but after one day of Gary being out of the house, he starts to lose it because he misses Gary so much. Finally, after much heartbreak, Spongebob figures out Gary doesn't really like Patrick, he just wants the cookie in his pocket. The video ends with Spongebob happily getting Gary back in his life, but Gary never lets on whether he really missed Spongebob or not.
That's the dilemma all cat lovers face--do their cats really love them, or do they just put with their owners so that they can live a more comfortable life? As painful as it is to think that the latter reason may be true, their meow is a siren song their owners can't deny.