CAT FAMILY - EMMA

CAT FAMILY – EMMA

Emma

I noticed the dogs first. They weren’t as large as some others around my neighborhood. Really, they aren’t much taller than me. Both of them were the color of the tree trunks that bring shade to the area. They looked alike. Sisters, I decided. They were older, too. I mean, they could have been my grandmas.

I used to live on the apartment side. When my family moved and forgot me, I found a way under the fence to where the people seemed friendlier. I wanted to find a real family of my own. It wasn’t so much that I trusted everyone. I was hopeful, but careful. I might be young, but I’m not stupid. I believed there was someone out there who would take me in for real. Someone nice. I was too young to live on the street.

I knew the first time I saw Tequila and Quetta and the lady who walked them that they would be my family. You might say I chose them.

Twice a day they passed me—early when the morning was new then late in the afternoon when the sky turned color. I wanted to be with them so badly. Finally I just did it. I ran up alongside them and trotted along like I belonged there. Tequila and Quetta shot me looks, but they didn’t bark at me like other dogs would. The lady just laughed, like I made her happy.

But then they reached the street. That’s when I had to stop. I wanted so badly to cross with them, but the street had cars that flew by. I didn’t have to see what happens when one hits a kitten like me.

So I sat at the curb and watched as they crossed to the other side. The woman stopped and looked back at me. She called out. I knew she wanted me to come with them, but I couldn’t move. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t dare cross that street.

This went on, day after day. Sometimes she would start to come after me, but I panicked, terrified of what lay beyond the other side. So I turned tail and ran back to what was familiar ground. Call me a coward. I couldn’t help it. I knew that’s where she and the dogs must live, but crossing the street and going where I’d never been was too horrifying to contemplate.

Then one day I missed them somehow. They didn’t come. Then I missed another day. What would happen if they never came back? I would never be a part of their family. That scared me – even more than the street. I knew I would have to find my courage and strength before it was too late.

I was overjoyed when I saw them next. I pranced alongside like they were already my family. Then we got to the street. I felt the horrible fear rise up inside me. I wanted to run back to what was familiar.

But I wanted my new family more.

The woman seemed to read my mind. She kept coaxing me, bending down to pet me, and finally, after crossing the street with the dogs, she turned back to me. Called out, “Here kitty, kitty. Come here, kitty.”

I kept my gaze on her, needing to trust that she wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

Then I dashed across. Her voice sounded so happy. She and the dogs kept going around and between the townhomes, making sure I was following. Her voice stayed steady and calming. When we came to her house, she opened the gate and let the dogs inside. When she took them in the house, I panicked again. I jumped over the fence so I wouldn’t be left out there alone, but I was in another patio. The wrong patio. I had jumped over the wrong fence. I curled in a corner, terrified.

She was outside then and tried the gate to get where I was. It wouldn’t open. Then she came to the fence that separated the patios. There was a tree on both patios. Somehow she coaxed me up the tree until I was within reach of her.

“Come on, Emma. You can do it,” she said.

She had given me a name!

Somehow that gave me the courage to jump. I landed right in her arms.

My lady kept murmuring soft words until I stopped shaking. And then she brought me inside her house. Both dogs came up to me, sniffing me all over to make sure I was all right.

“You’re safe now, my beautiful, sleek Emma,” she said. “You’re home now. You don’t ever have to go outside again.”

Before I had a chance to digest her words, she set me down and put food and water in front of me. I didn’t realized until then how hungry I was. Food had sometimes appeared on doorsteps in the neighborhood, but not often enough.

After I ate, I met new friends. Smokey and Sabrina came up to me and sniffed, but didn’t spit. I wondered where she found them. I didn’t recognize either of them from the neighborhood. Before they could tell me their story, I was shone a comfortable bed and soon felt sleepy, tummy full and warm. The lady’s words came back to me as I curled up.

I was home. I was never going outside again.