The Barn With A Hidden Secret{Tag: A Story Where A Window IS Found Broken}

One beautiful, crisp, fall day, when Adam was out walking his dog, Captain, and he came across an old barn with quite a few windows broken in it. He would’ve kept going, had he not heard tiny little sounds coming from inside. He went in to investigate, and when he went through the doorway, much to his surprise, he saw a mother cat and 4 baby kittens that were only a few weeks old. They were meowing softly, and rolling around. There was a calico, a black kitten, a tiger striped and an orange kitten. They were so adorable, that Adam was instantly smitten with them and decided to take them all home with him.

     He had his backpack with him, and gently put the mother in first-A calico-, and then put in the babies in beside her. He would have left them, but they were miles from the road and anyone who would help. And, he knew he couldn’t just leave them there. So, he took them with him. His dog sniffed at his backpack, but didn’t protest, as they moved out of the barn and trekked the 5 miles toward home. When he got home, he went straight down to the basement, and found a nice, big box, and found some old, soft rags, and put them in. He opened his backpack, and gently took out the kittens and mother cat, and set them in the box. Then, he went upstairs and warmed up some milk and put it in a bowl and took it downstairs. The calico licked it up, like she hadn’t eaten  much in days, and Adam suspected she probably hadn’t; and the nursing babies had probably drained her of most of her energy, too. He made a list of things he’d need to pick up from the pet store (food, litter, dishes, toys, etc.) and called his friend to come over and stay with them while he went to go get the stuff for the cats.  When he got back, he got set up everything for the cats, and then took his dog out for a short walk.

     He took Captain downstairs, to introduce him to the cats and watched him sniff out the cat family and laughed when the mama cat gently swatted the dog away from her kittens. He decided he needed to give the cat a name and came up with Jackie True, after a cat he used to have when he was younger. He would name the kittens when they got a bit older and were moving around and he could see what kind of personalities they had. He took Captain back upstairs, and set to work on putting in the cat flap on the basement door, and then sat down to relax for a minute. He laughed to himself, as he thought about what his friend, George, must be telling all his other friends about the cat and kittens he just brought home. He had never been much of a “cat person”-he’d always been a “dog person”. But, he had always stopped to help an animal in need, and he knew that was what drew him to the mama cat and her kittens. Besides, there was no “rule” that said a man couldn’t change his mind about these things, was there?!

    The next day was another beautiful day, and news about his “rescue” of the cat family had spread fast in the small town he lived in. He got a knock on the door, and was greeted by a small girl from next door, who wanted to see the kittens, and then another little girl came from down the street. The whole rest of the week, he got quite the assortment of visitors, and he chuckled to himself, thinking he had never had so much company in all his life! But, he enjoyed it, he had to admit! Now, if the cat family would only bring him a nice, pretty girl to his door, he’d be a *happy* man. He hadn’t minded being “alone” the past few years, but finding the mama cat and kittens, he realized just how nice it would be to have Someone to “take care of”-like the kittens-; and hoped that someday soon that would be true.

     The next few days were busy with work and appointments to get the mama cat and kittens their shots, to make sure they stayed healthy; and Adam was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the week. But, he knew it was all worth it, because he could have never lived with himself, if he had left all those cats in the barn to fend for themselves. He had wanted to be a vet growing up, and had a nurturing side most men didn’t possess because of it. Whenever an animal was hurt, injured, or needed a home, he was right there to help; and now was no different. So, he felt good that he had done his “good deed” for the week.

     The next week proved busy, but, in the evenings, he went downstairs, and held the kittens in his arms for a few minutes, and relaxed for a bit. Their eyes were open, now, and starting to crawl around; so, he decided he should give them all names, now. The calico he called “Tink”, the black one, “Percy”, the tiger-striped, “Tigger”, and the orange cat. “Garfield”. (Tho, he had no intention of letting him getting too fat!) He played with them for abit and started to go upstairs and they all started to try and follow him up; but, their legs were too short, and they couldn’t quite make it, and he laughed. So, he scooped them all up, and Jackie true followed him up, and they all went into the living room and over by the fire place, where he had set up a cat bed for her. She climbed in and the kittens followed, but, crawled right back out. They set off to explore the rest of the house. Captain followed along behind, like a “guard dog”, and Adam almost wished he could video tape it; it looked so hilarious! He imagined that the cats were going to prove to be an “interesting” addition” to the household; and at the rate they were going around the house, he figured he was right!

     He sat down in the rocking chair and watched Jackie True looking around for her kittens, and thought he saw a look of relief when the kittens finally came back into the living room. He figured a mama cat “worried” over her kids, just like a “human” mama did; but, he had never really watched a mama cat so closely until now. It was interesting to see how a mama cat took care of her kittens. She gave each one a bath, as they crawled into the bed, and the looks they gave her (especially the boys!) said: “Are we done yet? We wanna go play!” lol Then, she nursed them, went into the kitchen, got some food and water, found the litter box, and then came and laid down to take a nap, exhausted. Adam figured those kittens were going to be wearing her out a lot in the next few weeks, and wanted to help her out as much as he could. He’d pick up some kitten food, and give it to the kittens in a few weeks, when the vet said it was okay to do so; then, Jackie True wouldn’t be so worn out, and could have as much fun as the kittens.

     The morning dawned bright and clear, and since it was Saturday, he had the whole day off and decided to go out for a hike in the woods, and then maybe to the gym later. He got dressed, packed a picnic lunch, called his friend, George, to check in on the cats while he was gone, whistled for Captain, and he was off. He went out on an Appalachian trail that was nearby, and hiked for a few hours, and then stopped, ate his lunch, and hiked back down. He then decided to go for a swim in the lake nearby, and it felt so good after that long hike, and he felt refreshed. But, he was missing the kittens, so he decided to go home and check in on them. George greeted him, and said they were doing fine, but he wanted to check for himself. So, he peeked around the corner of the doorway, and all the kittens were in the middle of the floor, crawling all over their mama, biting her tail, when it swished back and forth, and trying to bite her ears when she wasn’t looking. It was a pretty comical sight! Adam laughed. It looked like Jackie true could handle herself, so he left her and the kittens with George and went out for a boat ride with Captain. They took out his uncle’s 44-footer, and were out the rest of the afternoon. They caught a truly beautiful sunset, and it was so nice out there, he decided to spend the night out there. He gave George a call, who didn’t mind staying with the cats, and Captain was happy, too. He loved staying out on the water, and watching the birds fly in low, thinking he could chase after them, if they landed on deck.

     They woke up to a magnificent sunrise, the call of seagulls, and the smell of flowering trees across the lake. Adam loved sleeping out on the boat and wished he could do it all the time; but, his job kept him so busy, he could only a few weekends during the summer. His Uncle did cruises and fishing tours during the summer and sometimes he got to help him. He looked in the small refrigerator, and was saw that his Uncle had just stocked up on food. So, he fried up some eggs and bacon, and sat out on deck to eat his breakfast. That was a mistake, because all the seagulls in the area smelled his food, and flew in for a landing! He quickly went inside and finished up, and cleaned up the little galley. He took Captain out on deck and put in a fishing pole and waited to see if they could catch any fish for dinner. After a few hours, they had quite a haul and decided to pull up anchor, and go ashore. He called George and told him he was headed home.

     He got home, cleaned the fish, and gave a few fish heads to Jackie True to munch on, who loved them. Captain took one sniff, and kinda turned up his nose, which made Adam laugh. And the kittens all gathered around their mama trying to play with the fish heads, batting it around with their little paws, like they were some new toys. They were so fun to watch.  It was amazing what little it took to make a kitten happy! Adam was glad Jackie True and the kittens were happy and healthy; and he intended to keep them that way. If only human children could be just as happy. He grew not having any electronic devices. His parents sent him outside to play, and he was happy. He played in a treehouse, went fishing with his Dad and Grandpa, went out on trails and learned about animal tracks and nature with his Dad. Kids just don’t know how good they have it, he mused.

    He turned and went to go clean up the kitchen and thought it would be nice to have a family someday, to pass on all the stuff his Dad and Grandpa had taught him; just like Jackie True was teaching her kittens “life’s little lessons”. Watching her, he realized that raising kittens was almost like raising little kids: You have to give them a “set of rules” to “follow”. If they don’t “follow” them, there are “consequences” to every action. And, how they are when they “grow up”, is a direct result of the actions of their youth. He had learned this from “personal experience”, himself. So, he was going to make sure that these kittens didn’t get into too much “trouble” and cause as much “grief” as he had caused his mother.

      But, he was also thinking that if he hadn’t taken a walk on the trail that led past that old barn, he would have missed the unique opportunity to take care of such a wonderful mother and her tiny kittens. He knew his life would never be the same now. Their presence would forever enrich his life in more ways than he could ever possibly know. And, he was glad he had taken that path less traveled and come across them on that crisp, Fall day, and saved their lives(and possibly his own). Jackie True and the kittens had found a permanent place to stay and a permanent place in his heart.