Liliana Morse is a 9-year-old who loves animals — especially cats.
The Bankston Elementary School fourth grader has six of her own, all of which are former strays.
“I’ve always loved cats,” she said.
One of her cats, Iris, she found at school last October. The cat followed her into her classroom, and she convinced her teacher to call her mother to come get it.
In advocating to adopt the cat, she told her parents that it’s a calico cat, and the family didn’t have a calico cat, and so they should keep it. It was a sound argument, and now Iris has a home.
The daughter of Dr. Ed and Karen Morse, Liliana likes cats so much, she was excited to play one when the Greenwood Little Theatre recently presented The Enchanted Bookshop.
She played Bombalurina, the bookstore cat.
She took her role very seriously, her mother said. She would often practice her lines of meows and hisses off stage.
“It was fun,” Liliana said.
Have you been in a Greenwood Little Theatre play before? Yes, before this one, two.
What was it like to play Bombalurina? I had fun. Meeting the people, and the costume was fun and just the practicing was fun. Now I don’t have anything to do after school.
Do you like cats? Yes, I have six — Chester, Wilson, Ellington, Iris, Bear and Tuesday. I got most of them when they were kittens.
I have a dog, Charlie. He is a standard poodle. He’s big. He turned 1 year old last December. ... Some of the cats like him but some of the cats, like Iris, hate him. Wilson likes him. He’s our sweetest cat; not in my opinion, but I think he is.
Do you like school? Yes!
Do you have a favorite subject? No. ... My teachers are going to be reading this, so I can’t pick a favorite.
What are your favorite hobbies? I like watching TV. I like America’s Got Talent. I like Family Feud. I like drawing. I like to draw dragons. Mr. (John) Rose helps me. I like music. ... I’m a Girl Scout.
How long have you been a Girl Scout? Four years. ... We sell cookies; we go places together, like we went to Painting with Friends, and do community service. I’m going to Girl Scout camp this summer. This year, I’m going to horse camp, and they are going to teach me how to ride a horse.
Do you have a favorite book? I like listening to my audiobooks, Percy Jackson. I like it so much I’m restarting the series because there are no new books coming out. Mostly, in all the Percy Jackson series, there’s about five books each series. ... I think I like The Heroes of Olympus series the best. In that series, The Mark of Athena is my favorite. It’s mostly because it’s about my favorite character. Athena is the parent of my favorite character, Annabeth.
Do you have a favorite food? Seafood and Chinese food, those are my favorite.
Do you have a favorite candy or dessert? My favorite candy is Reese’s, and my favorite dessert is brownies.
What do you want to be when you grow up? I either want to be a teacher or a zookeeper.
Do you have any siblings? Yes, two. They are crazy. I have twin brothers. Christopher and David. They are 5.
Is it hard being a big sister? Yes!
What’s the best part about being a big sister? You love your brothers, and at the end of the day, you’ve got someone who always has your back.
If you could invent anything, what would it be? Something that you could put one piece of something in, and then you get infinite supply of it. That’d be cool.
How much would you sell your invention for? $1 million. You could make money off of it; get the million dollars back.
If you could change anything about Greenwood, what would it be? More pools. I like swimming. A pool on every street, and they are public pools, so everyone can come to them.
- This article first appeared in Leflore Illustrated, a quarterly magazine published by The Greenwood Commonwealth.
