My New Friend

I was never a big fan of pets. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate them, but it adds to another mouth to feed to the household, another thing to worry about, spend money on and if you want to take trips or vacations, you have to worry about finding a pet sitter. It was just another thing that requires work, time, and money. So no, I would rather not have a pet, something to clean up after. I have many friends with pets and honestly, animals don’t seem to like me much anyways. So, you can imagine that on that rainy night coming home from work, this situation was interestingly different for me. This changed my life, forever.

It was a Thursday afternoon, raining hardcore when I was coming home from my job. I worked at my local grocery store in the deli, and I could not wait to get home, get a shower, eat, and go to bed. The traffic was annoying at this time of day, with everyone getting off work. I was there in a traffic jam when something caught the corner of my eye. I looked towards the road on the other side, with oncoming traffic moving slowly and noticed something that made my heart sink. I saw the tiniest thing running around under someone’s car. I blinked a few times and realized that it was a kitten. Without thinking, I put my car in park and hopped out quickly. People were beeping their horns at me in anger and I ran to the other side of the road. The person in the car that had the kitten under it, stopped and was beeping. I came to his driver side and he put the window down.

“What the hell do you think you’re-“

“There’s a kitten under your car! Shut up!”

The person looked baffled that I told them to shut up, but they did and opened their car door. I was already on the ground and could see the little guy just by the wheel. Thank God the dude stopped moving.

“Go near the back and scare it more this way.”

The guy followed my instructions and when he moved, the kitten started moving my way. I quickly crawled under the car and got a hand on the little guy and pulled him out. Us both soaking wet and the kitten meowing, I quickly unzipped my jacket and stuck him in it, up against my chest. The poor thing was shivering and for a moment I forgot about my issues with pets. I immediately went back to my car and quickly drove home. I got in my apartment, still holding the kitten to my chest and pulled out a few towels from the cupboard in the bathroom. I turned on the small heater I had in there and sat down in front of it. I tried to pry the kitten from my wet shirt, but it held on and cried when I would pull. I just held him there, taking the clean towel and putting it around us. I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and immediately called my friend Samantha. She owned 2 cats and would know what to do.

“Hello?”

“Hey Sam, it’s Jimmy. You’re not going to believe what I found today.”

I told her all about what happened and where I was now. She told me that she would come over in a minute with some supplies. I waited with the kitten, still clinging to my chest and the little thing was purring now. Sam knew where my extra key was outside of my apartment and she knew that she could let herself in. Me and Sam go way back, middle school. We have been friends ever since. I hear the front door open and close and Sam walks into the bathroom.

“Let me see.”

I try to pull the kitten from my chest, and it cries again. I felt bad and let Sam pull it away. Sam looks the kitten over and cuddles it some. She can’t resist already.

“Aww. Looks like you have a baby girl. Congratulations.”

I start shaking my head.

“No Sam. You know how I am about pets.”

I said these words, yet something has felt empty since Sam took the kitten from me. She lifted an eyebrow, like she could see right through me.

“So, you want me to take her? I cannot have more cats right now, but I could foster until there’s another home.”

I felt a little nauseous when she said that and tried to shake it off, but I think my face gave me away. Sam always said I was an open book.

“If you want to keep her, I can help you. Having a cat can be very rewarding.”

Sam was cuddling the kitten still and something about it was making me jealous. This was the weirdest sensation I’ve ever felt. Sam could read me still like a book, so she went to hand the kitten back and stopped.

“You’re still wearing that wet shirt. Change clothes first and I will dry her off better. I brought some things for her to eat too. You’ll need to schedule a vet appointment.”

I changed my clothes quickly and Sam was taking her time drying the kitten with a towel. After that, she had a bowl down with something in it and the kitten was chowing down. This made me feel horrible, how hungry she was. I pointed at the bowl.

“What is that?”

“Kitten chow and goats’ milk. It is easy on the stomach and I’m sure she’ll pass right out afterwards. I texted you the number of the vet I see. Make an appointment tomorrow if you are really dedicated. I’ll leave the rest of the goats’ milk and kitten chow for you. Call if you have any questions.”

Sam started walking towards the door.

“Thanks Sam.”

She turned back around and smiled, before walking out the door. I looked around and saw the bag of kitten chow and a litter box ready to go. I thought about how I would train her to use it. Sam told me once that kittens aren’t actually born knowing how to use them, but that they had to learn by watching their mother. I couldn’t help but to feel bad when I thought about how scared she must have been in traffic. Where was her mother? Siblings? The thought was depressing, so I watched her eat till she was finished.

After she stopped eating, the kitten looked back at me, who was sitting Indian style on the floor. She wobbled over to me, purring and climbed into my lap. It didn’t take long, but she fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake her, so I just sat there and thought about my life over the past few years.

It was a while since I was really connected to someone. I avoided relationships because my past few were terrible. Being cheated on and verbally abused kind of does that to you. Sam was one of the only women I knew who wasn’t a psychopath. Even my own family was bad, but I don’t think about that if I can help it. I have a very select group of friends, because they’re the only people who never betrayed me or hurt me somehow. I figured that maybe I could introduce the little girl to them tomorrow sometime. I’d just have to make that appointment.

I shook my head a little. What was I thinking? I can’t raise a kitten out of nowhere. I don’t know anything about cats and surely, I don’t need another mouth to feed. I thought about this to myself, but then looking at the sleeping creature on my lap made my heart skip a beat. I guess I can see why people get attached. It feels good to have something love you unconditionally. I scooped up the kitten and walked to my bed but stopped. The bed seemed too high for such a little thing, so I grabbed a pillow and blanket from the bed and just slept in the floor in the living room, pulling the food, water bowl and litter box closer. I drifted off to a painful sleep on the floor and woke up in a panic. I didn’t see the kitten anywhere. I paced all over the house, looking under my couch, in the bathroom and even out the front door. My heart was racing and breaking already, and I was near tears. I finally ran into the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief. The kitten was just curled up on the bed, in what people would call the “loaf” position and was staring at me. I crouched next to the bed and gave her a tiny pet on the head. She started purring right away and I felt myself melting. I pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the message from Sam. I saw the message with the vet’s number and selected it, allowing me to make a call. I made the appointment and the soonest is tomorrow at 10am, so it looked like today was a chill day with my new friend. I thought about it and knew I should come up with a name but had no ideas yet. Since my friends were coming over tonight anyways, I would vote with them for a name for the new kitten.

Quick information about my closest friends, we are all Dungeons and Dragons players. We like to meet weekly and play a campaign and my friend Greg is the DM. The others are Tom and Maria, and the 5 of us (Sam and I included) play every Friday night anyways. We all bring drinks and food, and we gather around my kitchen table to play. I keep our maps and character sheets, while Greg keeps the books. I went ahead and set up a group text with everyone to tell them the news.

Jim: Hey guys. DnD is still planned for tonight, although we have someone new joining us.

Sam: I know who it is! 😊

Maria: Is it another guy? We need more girl power in the group.

Greg: I hope she’s good looking LOL.

Tom: You guys never change. Who’s the newbie?

Jim: You’ll meet her. She’s at my place already and lives with me. It’s not what you think either.

           This made me crack up because everyone sent the same hilarious face. OoO. Enjoying their shocked expressions, I told everyone that I needed to talk to them before we play, so I wanted them over as early as they could, but not before 3pm. My reason is because I like to make sure that my house is in order before company. It just feels better to have laundry, dishes and basic cleaning done before they all come over. And with a new friend, I think it might be harder to watch over the little one while cleaning. I hated the idea, but I was tempted to put her in the bathroom with the door shut so she wouldn’t be in the way. I could already see her little blue eyes in my head however and it made me forget the idea. I went ahead and fed her, showed her the litter box and started cleaning. Sam told me in a text that I should frequently put her in the litter box, so that when she has to use the bathroom, she’s more tempted by it. This didn’t work at first however, because she ended up pooping in the kitchen floor while I did laundry. I’m glad she did it on linoleum and called Sam about it. She told me to put the poop in the litter box and to put the kitten on it so she sees where it is. Thankfully, this worked out, because an hour later she peed in the box. Before I knew it, it was 3:30pm and there was a knock at my door. I scooped up the kitten and opened the door. Maria was standing there, and she gasped.

“You like my new roommate?”

“Oh my god! She is so precious!”

           Maria and I sat on my living room floor, using a shoestring to play with the kitten. Closer to 4, Greg and Tom arrived, with Sam soon after. To my happiness, everyone loved her at first sight. They couldn’t stop gushing over her and everyone wanted to play with and hold her. She didn’t like being held much, but she didn’t mind me holding her. We started voting on names, but honestly, I preferred more human names than typical pet names. Greg offered Silver, but that was too basic. Yeah, she was a grey color, but I didn’t like the basic name. Tom said Jaina, like the character from World of Warcraft, which I thought was nice. Maria just said Maria, which I shook my head. I wasn’t naming her something that would be confused with someone else’s name. Sam just wanted to know what I thought, and I admitted to liking Jaina, but wanted some more options. I ended up getting the idea and sticking with a name, deciding to go with Leia, from Star Wars. Everyone liked the idea so now we had Leia.

           Our DnD game went well, exploring some new areas, completing quests, leveling up and meeting new NPCs. When our session was over it was 11pm and everyone made their way home. Leia had already eaten for the night and thankfully used her litterbox. Since she was on the bed when I woke up, I figured that sleeping in the bed should be fine. I got into bed and Leia naturally hopped up here with me. I got comfy and she crawled on my chest, kneading her little claws into my blanket. She was looking at me and slow blinking, which is what Sam said they do when they love you. I couldn’t help but to wonder, why would this kitten love me already? She doesn’t even know me. I dropped the idea and cuddled her, placing an alarm on my phone for 8am and fell asleep.

The next morning, Leia followed me into the bathroom after we both ate breakfast and sat there waiting for me to exit the shower. I got dressed and when the time came, I grabbed Leia and we left for the vet’s office. We went in, I had some paperwork for her, but I explained to them about how I found her to begin with. They set us up for her checkup, which was all good, and we were on our way home in a flash. I thought about it and hated the idea of leaving her home alone while I worked, but there wasn’t much I could do about that. The vet let me know that I needed to buy a carrier, so I decided to go to my nearest pet store. They set me up with a carrier, some toys, some treats, and I even got her a collar with her name and my information on it, in case she got lost. When back home, Leia seemed freaked out from the ride and she took her time exploring my apartment. It wasn’t too big, so she finished her exploration and checked out the toys I bought her. My phone rang and it was Sam calling.

“Hey Jim.”

“Hey Sam. What’s up?”

“Not much. Just wanted to check on Leia and how her appointment went.”

“Everything is fine. She is healthy as a horse. They were surprised that she didn’t have fleas or worms and I’m wondering if that means someone threw her out.”

“It’s messed up, but people do that all the time. They decide that they don’t want them anymore and just ditch them somewhere.”

“That is messed up. I’d like to punch the person in the face who would give Leia up like that, or anything that defenseless.”

“I’m glad to see that you’ve bonded to her so fast.”

“Yeah it’s weird. You know me. I never bond like this but something about Leia is different.”

“I can tell. You are so smitten with her and it’s good. You’ve got that natural parental instinct.”

Sam was right and it was weird. I didn’t even think I had that instinct, since my family life was so messed up. But I guess people can turn out different than their parents.

“Well I didn’t want to be on the phone long, just wanted to make sure you guys are doing ok. Same as before, call me if you need help with something.”

“Thanks Sam. I will.”

           I hung up the phone and when I looked, Leia was galloping through the living room with a fuzzy fake mouse in her mouth. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Something about her just made me feel different than ever before. I never would have called myself a pet parent, but I had a feeling that Leia would be the best gift I ever received.