About a week before Christmas, my sister in law called me. I knew from her tentative, "Hi . . . " with that long, pregnant pause afterward, that there was something in the works.
"How's your search for a kitten coming?"
Uh oh! We had pondered getting a kitten last spring, something for our fantastic old cat to raise up and hopefully imbue with a bit of his personality. But we didn't encounter any kittens, and we didn't look too hard, either. We had kind of decided that he was a bit elderly to have something chasing him around all the time.
"It's pretty much stalled. Why?"
"Weeeeelllll . . . " again with the pause. "I-kind-of-found-a-kitten-today-and-he's-really-cute-he's-gray-and skinny-and-there's-no-way-we-can-keep-him . . . "
We were going over anyway for Darling Niece's birthday that evening, and the first thing she did was shove the squirmy little thing into her uncle's arms when we walked in the door. When the kitten started purring, I knew it was over. Sweetie is definitely the sucker in this family.
So, this kitten. He's not really gray. He's more tabby-like, though he's got more spots than stripes. The kids want to name him "Leopard" or "Cheetah" but I think those are just barely one step above a name from a Disney movie. Mostly he's just plain "kitten" while we search for something that fits him. He is about the scrawniest thing you've ever seen. I didn't realize just how thin he is until I realized I can practically count the bones in his tail, and the ribs are an easy mark even without my contacts in. He's got a pretty much constant drive to eat, which is understandable. He follows me around and has not yet figured out how to get out of my way, which is almost endearing. He passed the kitty intelligence tests (tape on the feet, etc.) better than any cat I've seen aside from our wise old one, which is amazing.
I think we'll let him stay.
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