Gender bender

So I was walking down to unlock the gate this morning, with my cat's offspring in tow. Two boys from the neighbourhood were taking turns to ride a bike and saw me at the gate. I called out to them, and they noticed the kitten behind me. Of course they had to stop and check out the new member in the locality.

"Is that Jack's baby?"

"Who's Jack?" I'm slightly perplexed; we have stray cats here, who are mostly attached to individual houses but visit other households as well, and get fed almost everywhere. So each cat can have different names in different households. 

"Why, the white cat who had kittens in thaaat house?" They point vaguely at some house yonder and look at me reproachfully. How could I not know Jack?

"Oh, that Jack," I hurriedly back down. I still have no clue who Jack is, but since Puchu had her kittens in the house next to ours, she can't be Jack. "Nope, not him."

"I know," pipes up the other kid, "This is Meenu's baby!"

"Nope," I have to disillusion him, "This is Puchu's baby."

They are confused. Puchu is my name for the white cat who frequents our house and whose kitten is following me, but they probably call her something else. They, however, struggle valiantly to get to the bottom of the matter.

"The white cat?"

I nod.

"With a black tail?"

I nod vigorously, to show that they are on the right track. Secretly, this description fits about five cats in the neighbourhood. Of both genders. 

"Jack." They reassure me gravely after considering all five options. "This is Jack's baby."

As luck would have it, Puchu chose that moment to drop gracefully from the boundary wall and stroll towards her mewing kitten. My audience stares at her as understanding dawns. 

"Ah!" They exclaim in unison. "That's Jack's brother!"

The delights of being around innocence!