Bargain Shopping

We have recently become the staff of two small, gray and white (or white and gray, depending on which you're looking at) fur balls. After the unfortunate loss of Kitten, everyone was feeling the empty spot where he had been -- even Old Cat, who was about 50/50 on whether he'd like to snuggle up with Kitten or devour his entrails.

So when the local SPCA started advertising their Cat Adoption Extravaganza, we had to go.

We looked around at all the little faces and I immediately settled on a wheezy, lethargic little thing that looked quite a bit like Old Cat. We informed the volunteer that we'd like to see him and I was handed a 9-page questionnaire about facets of our life that didn't even involve pet care. While I scribbled frantically, the family traipsed around and informed me that there was a small cat I simply had to see. Just then, the volunteer swooped in and took our questionnaire. After a whole twenty seconds' perusal (Seriously? Why did I bother again?) he grabbed the kitten and put us in a room to play.

"Play" was optimistic. The poor thing sneezed a few times and retreated under the bench. He sat there, looking up at me through the slats, completely miserable. The volunteer poked his head in the window. "Is there another cat you wanted to see?" The kids said yes, and told him which one, but my sweetheart could see that I was teasing the kitten with my fingers, and that a spark of interest had appeared in his watery green eyes.

"We need a few more minutes with this one," he said.

Soon I had a small paw batting at my fingers, claws sheathed. I scooped him up and he purred a little, and then sneezed on me. The window slid open.

"It's against policy, but I thought you might like to see this one too," said the volunteer. In dropped a vibrant white-and-gray blur. The kids raced over to engage with the new kitten, and soon there were small bouncy balls and feathered mice zooming around the floor.

"I see from your form that you have an old cat," said the helpful volunteer. "Having two kittens significantly decreases the amount of grief he'll take, since the young ones will play together." White and gray rocketed around the small room, and then settled gently into my shoulder when I picked him up. He looked a lot like our outside kitty.

As the kids played with White and my sweetie made friends with Gray and his nasal secretions, the helpful volunteer leaned through the window one last time.

"We're running a special, you know. It's $40 for the first adoption, which includes all shots and neutering. If you adopt a second kitten, the adoption fee for both is $40."

We looked at each other, and then down at the small, purring things cradled in our arms. The boys didn't utter a word . . . but their eyes said it all.