It was a warm December evening just before Christmas and I had worked a late shift at the local Sizzlers. My Boyfriend picked me up that night in his beat up Cortina so I didn’t have to walk home. It was after 11:30pm. We chatted in the car as normal for the 1 1/2 km trip home before pulling in the driveway of our little rental shack. The night was moonless and dark, there were no clouds. There was silence in the air as we hopped out of the car, it felt like the rest of the world was asleep.
Mewwwww.
A squeak disturbed the night. I was nearly at the front door.
Shhh. What was that??
Meeeeuuwwwww.
Still a squeak, but a little more persistent. It was feint but I knew the sound now.
My eyes were getting used to the dark and I peered out towards the street. I was alone. No more sounds, damn. I started out to where I thought the sound had come from, just across the street and up to the right a bit. Two cars were parked out the front of the house.
Mewwwww.
I hesitated, my shoes crunching on the uneven road. Shhh, silly.
Mewwwww.
I knew where the sound had come from this time. I crouched down and looked under the car. Two shining yellow eyes greeted me.
MeEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOUUUUUUWWWWWW!!!!!
A tiny little black kitten came running out to greet me, tail high in the air. It was so hard to see her. I leant down and checked under the car but there was nothing else I could see. Picking up the kitten, I could feel the fur was matted and lumpy. I could tell it was about eight weeks old. I turned and set off back towards our house. Tiny little kitty was purring every second breath, almost like it hadn’t been perfected yet.
Crossing back into the yard, I took one last look over my shoulder. My heart skipped a beat as a shadow loomed up. I stopped and held my breath. Crossing the street behind me was a second tiny little fluffy thing. Boy, was my man going to be pissed! I ran back, scooped up the quiet brown tabby then turned and ran into the house. I didn’t want there to be a third one!!
Paul’s face said it all when I got inside. Only a few minutes had passed since we had arrived home and now I had turned up with a kitten in each hand. We both loved cats but owning a pet in our little house was never going to be part of the equation.
Umm… I’m just going to check these guys out for ticks and stuff and umm… tomorrow I’ll find out who owns them, ok?
He smiled.
Eighteen years on, that black cat and I had stayed together through thick and thin. That guy I was with – well, we never made it and other lovers had come and gone. With Girl at my side, I had read books, washed dishes and watched countless episodes of Water Rats. She gave birth to four kittens the very first year in an old brick barbecue, her brother Byron watching on. I held her paw. She purred in between pushes. I kept two; they were called Fudge and BoyBoy.
I moved a couple of times. When I moved into the house I had bought, Byron was run over and killed out the front. He was five. I met a man, had two children. He didn’t work out either. Still, Girl lived on. I met another man, sold my house and moved on. Fudge was no longer around so BoyBoy and Girl came too. We rented for a while. BoyBoy was thirteen when we bought the house I am in now. He was sick and blind and arthritic. I took him to the vets and he was gently put to sleep. Girl waited patiently at home for me to bring her son back to be buried in the back yard. She was fourteen.
Down the track we got another kitten. Ting Ting turned out to be a really naughty cat and the two moggies never really hit it off. Merlin, our hound, came along too and Girl hated him with a vengeance. He turned out to be her best companion these last few weeks, licking her gently, lovingly, and staying by her side.
So now to 2012. My husband I have called it quits. I have lost my job, been re-employed and the kids are getting taller every day. Last October Girl turned eighteen yet she made it through the new year. I was amazed every day at her persistent vitality. And constant meows.
MEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!
When would it ever stop??
Yesterday.
