A New Friend

I really don't remember a time when we didn't have a pet kitty in the house.  But when something happened to the last one, I decided I wouldn't get another one.  I'd found out just how nice it was not having to worry about buying cat food or cleaning a litter box each day.  I had no intention of getting another one, in fact I never thought about it. 


Then one cold day last week, I got a call from my son Kyle.  He was just leaving the school where he teaches and asked if I would want a kitten to put out in our shop.  He said it looked cold and scared and he felt sorry for it.  I said sure, we can put it out there.  Fifteen minutes later, he walked in with a tiny little ball of fluff.  I said "Oh! No wonder you couldn't resist that!"  He said, "Yeah, I couldn't just leave it there."  The poor little thing was scared to death, skinny, and a little on the wild side.  I don't know what happened to separate him from his mamma, but it was obvious he wouldn't survive much longer without her.  Of course, I was hooked.  I made a little home for him in a shower stall we never use, fed him, and tried to tame him down.  Once, trying to pick him up, I scared him to death and he bit down on my little finger so hard it took me several seconds to get him to turn lose!  While cleaning the blood off my hand and applying a band-aide, it occurred to me that this was a stray kitten I knew nothing about.  After a few anxious moments worrying that I may get rabies, I realized I was being a little paranoid.  But I did jokingly tell my family, "If I start foaming at the mouth and growling at you, you better take me out and shoot me!"

Eddie sleeping by my computer as I work

It's been three days now, and he doesn't seem quite as skinny as he did, and he has a name.  Because of his coloring, I started calling him Tigger.  Then Mark said he thought I should call him Eddie because Kyle found him in front of the school where he is a special "ed" teacher.  I decided that was a better name for him, more original.

Eddie's starting to adjust to life away from the wild.  He's taken a liking to me and purrs continually whenever he's around me.  I can see the future holds buying cat food again, and cleaning a litter box each day, even though I had no intention of finding another cat.  I never counted on one finding me.