Wee vermin in the house.

Creepy's passing has left a void in not only my life, but Tuck's a well. They were just beginning to connect. Had a couple of nose-touching moments which were so sweet it almost brought me to tears. Creepy was actually learning to play with him and a couple of happy cat chases occurred in the days before she died. While I'd always had at least two cats together, Creepy has always been alone. It was difficult enough to accept her in my life after Medford and Scooter disappeared. The thought of getting Creepy a playmate when she was little seemed like a mountain I just couldn't climb. Thus, technically speaking, it was my fault she hated cats. She was raised solitary, had "Mom" all too herself for almost eight years.

Last year I thought about getting another kitten. Truthfully, I was too afraid Creepy would never learn to accept one, and quite possibly, seriously hurt it. I decided against it. Then, as the Fates would have it, three weeks ago Tuck came into our life. Yes, Creepy freaked over him in the beginning, but as I said, amazing things were developing. God, it made me so proud of my girl when she tried to play with Tuck! Then Creepy died, leaving me, and leaving Tuck.

Saturday we both, Tuck and I, wandered around the house in a daze. The rest of that day after she died he wouldn't play. Several times I found him laying in the spots Creepy used to lay to nap. He ate out of his own food bowl. Y'all, from the very first day of being loose in the house, ignoring his and eating out of hers seemed to be a great thing. Yet in that strange, inexplicable way of animals, and as young as he is, he knew something was seriously wrong in our world ...


At one point in the afternoon, when the husband was inside taking a short water break from digging Creepy's grave (I had him dig it in one of her favorite spots behind the house where there are trees - lots of roots and hard red clay dirt to have to dig through) he looked at me and said, "I don't mean to add salt to the wound but maybe you need to hurry up and get another kitten for Tuck's sake." As bad as I felt, as much as my heart squeezed up at the thought of another new kitten being in the house, I knew he was right. I told him about how I'd had a dream nearly a week ago that Tuck was playing with a little buff colored kitten and Creepy was sitting off to the side, barely within the range of my peripheral vision, quietly watching them. I was thinking it meant I was going to end up with three cats ...... not that Creepy would die. Guess being psychic didn't help me with that one at all. Oh yeah, you don't have to tell me knowing in advance wouldn't have made her death any easier. Trust me, I know.

All day Sunday I tossed the idea around in my head that maybe I should do the opposite. Maybe I should consider finding a new home for Tuck? After stewing on it for awhile I started to mention it to the husband, but before I could, he made the comment that I shouldn't wait to look for a kitten, that Tuck was already lonely and that he, the husband, considered Tuck a part of the family and loves him. Obviously, I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I promised on Monday I would start looking for a kitten for Tuck.

Again, the Fates stepped in.

My dear friend, Sue, called. The first words out of her mouth were, "How about a little gray tabby kitty?" Y'all, I am a complete and total goob for gray kitties. My Medford was gray. Anyway, I asked her how old it was and she said somewhere around Tuck's size. Sue was at the Animal Outreach booth they set up in front of Lowe's Hardware sometimes on the weekends. I asked her how much and how late they would be there. She said, "If you want it, it's on it's way to you." My Sue. She's amazing. What would I do without her?

Half an hour later she's at the door with this tiny speck of dust bunny fluff .....




The husband immediately fell in love. Head over heels. Wanted to stay home from work and play with the pretty new kitty kind of love. I'll admit, if I were going to pick a new kitty, I would have picked her. She's delicate and too sweet for words. From the way she reacted to the food bowl, growling like a beast and clamping her tiny paws protectively over it, it's sadly obvious she's had a rough start to life. Her ears are filthy and she's got a bit of a runny right eye. Tuck thinks she's the best new toy in the world. But he is a little bigger and I have to watch out, jumping to her rescue if he starts to rough her up too much.

We've got a 10:30 am appointment for the vet today. Everybody is getting a good once-over, shots and baths and all kind of vet inflicted indignities on little kitty persons. I think it's sort of like the cat version of a women's gynecological appointment. We women really hate it, but ya' gotta' do whatcha' gotta' do. Wish us luck.

I'm still reeling from Creepy's death. I'm torn between wanting to take care of these two babies and push them away because my heart misses my orange fluff ball so much. I'm sure, given time, my grief will lessen. I'll become attached to the new kittens. I am, after all, a cat person. And for now, I most certainly won't deny them love and attention just because it's really Creepy I'd rather be holding in my arms instead of a new kitten I don't really even know yet. The bond with these two will develop and grow in time. Life isn't always fair, isn't always easy, but maybe the Divine brought these two into my life to ease the loss of Creepy's passing. Maybe caring for their immediate needs will help keep me occupied enough to not dwell overmuch on how badly I miss her. This is what I tell myself. While it's not the happiest of times to come in, I have to say "Welcome to the family, Tesah."

Namaste, y'all ...