I've always been a little odd for a girl. At least, that's what the other girls said. So I guess it comes as no surprise that I preferred the company of snakes, rats, and mice over cats and dogs. At least, I did, before two bedraggled kittens stumbled into my life.
It was a cold fall that year. I was three months pregnant and looking for a dog to keep me active. Unfortunately, every time I found one, it was already adopted or I was outside of the borders the shelter adopted to. I was still living with my parents at the time, my soon-to-be husband living with his and working at McDonald's part time. He always stopped by after work to talk so I was a little surprised when he called me partway through his shift.
"Guess what I have," he said. His voice betrayed no hint of anything special so I wasn't sure what to expect.
"What do you have?" I asked, petting my rat who was perched half asleep on my shoulder.
"I have a kitten."
"Umm... Okay." I couldn't figure out why he'd call to tell me about a kitten. His family had several cats. Of course one would be sitting in his lap.
"The neighbor found it. Someone dumped two in his yard." That got me. My heart has always gone out to abandoned animals (which is why even my rats had been shelter adoptees).
"Aww. Can I see them later?"
"Yeah, I'll pick you up after work and you can see the kittens."
True to his word, when his shift ended he came over to pick me up and we went over to his house where two scared, shivering lumps of gray fur were curled up on the couch hissing at the dogs. When I came in, both dogs left the room, the two of them knowing I didn't like them about as much as they disliked me. Cooing over the little kittens I picked one up. It had the most distinctive mark on its face. A little white stripe that went right over its eye. I could feel myself falling for the pathetic little beast but I know I could hold back. At least, until one of the dogs came back over and it starting shivering in fear. I hid the kitten inside my coat to help it feel safe and it almost immediately fell asleep. Watching its feisty littermate with white raccoon mask face fend off the other dog in my husband's lap I couldn't help myself.
"Can we keep them?"
Catherine,
ReplyDeleteCan you change the way the text looks on your blog? With the black text against the blue background, it's impossible to read it.
I'm a sucker for a kitten story, and I think you've got the start of a very good one here. You mention at the top that you're "odd for a girl" and talk about your rats. I think that I would like more details about that in your 2nd draft. What makes you odd? Just that you like rats? What's it like living with a rat? Can you add more details about them as pets? Also, can you introduce any conflict in the story? Even a minor one could really add a new layer to your reflection.
10/10