Language Barrier

Author's Note: well this YA fantasy novel won't get written...

Cats had only one expression, Carlos found, disdain.  He plopped the shelter tabby down on his comforter and turned his head, looking at it from every angle.  Flexing its claws, the cat padded across the green and yellow quilt squares, leaving brown, orange, and cream hairs all over them.  "Hola, como se llama usted?" it meowed.

Carlos staggered backwards as quickly as his legs would carry him.  The cat... The cat...  "No hablo Espanol," he babbled, exhausting what little Spanish he had learned from movies and kids at school.

The cat licked its paw, eying him contemplatively, "No hablo Ingles."