Tuesday, while Jenny and I were planning VBS, she said in a joking manner, “I hear a cat; do y’all have a cat?” I laughed and said, “no, you must be hearing things!”
A little while later while we were outside with the kids, we continued to hear a little cat sound. Refusing to believe that we would have to deal with a cat, I ignored it for as long as possible. Finally, when all four little girls started climbing up on the fence to see the cat that they were hearing, the adults went to looking for it too. We found it living in the carport of the church, amidst the tractors and lawn equipment.
Well of course my kids immediately started in with the ‘can we keep it, can we keep it’ business. I tried my darnedest to get Jenny to take it home with her. The kids started throwing scraps of food over the fence (unbeknownst to us) to feed it. They named it Annie and from then on it was ‘their’ kitten. It started sneaking into our backyard (under the fence) whenever the kids were outside playing. Wouldn’t let anyone near it; just wanted to be in the yard when the kids were swimming and playing.
Will and I did take pity on it because we didn’t want our kids to walk out into the yard and find Annie dead at the fence. We fed it milk and cheerios (isn’t that the breakfast of champions?).
Everyday it got a little more brave, was a little harder to scare off, and hung out in our yard just a little bit more. I had visions of it using our sandbox as a litter box, Luke wanting to know what the little black things were in his sandbox, and me having to deal with worms (for the kitten and the kids) and fleas on a weekly basis. So, I told Will that this Sunday we would ask everyone we came in contact with at church until someone said they’d take it. I ended up in the nursery and of course Will didn’t do what I asked him to. So tonight, while I was in church I asked a sweet lady that I knew had lots of animals (on a farm) and would surely take just one more. Sure enough, she said yes.
So tonight, after telling the kids that Annie would have a wonderful home, lots of food, lots of fun, other animals to play with, humans that were not allergic to it, and a safe place to live; the kids were thrilled that someone was going to care for their little Annie. Then began the task of catching the little thing that wouldn’t let anyone near it.
We bribed it with more milk, and Will (even though he is allergic) because I am not an animal person inched his way closer and closer and built up trust until the kitten let him touch it. We immediately boxed it up (with air holes for all of you doubters out there) and taped it shut to be given to the church lady after choir practice was over.
The kids wanted to say goodbye and watch the lady take the kitty, so we all sat out on the front porch waiting for choir practice to end. Across the parking lot we noticed that the lid of the box is coming up and that darn kitten was escaping! Apparently, Will and I underestimated the ability of a little kitten to worm its way out of a cardboard box. It immediately crawled up into the engine of the truck that it was next to.
My husband, the hero, crawled on the ground and coaxed that kitten out of the engine. This time he decided to just hold onto it until choir practice was over. So for about thirty minutes, Will was the cat whisperer and I was able to take a few photos to remember this day.
Yes, we know that Luke is wearing purple sparkly flip flops. Isabelle and Anna sacrificed their feet so that Luke could walk on the pavement.
Go ahead, let the heckling begin…I know, I know, we are horrible parents for not letting our kids have a pet. But in defense, the kids ran from it and hid behind me every time it got anywhere near them. Luke’s words were, “hey big fella!” “Awww, he’s cute, but I don’t want him in my backyard.” So, we felt bad for about ten seconds until we got inside and I had to start digging around for Benadryl and eye drops for Will.
Thank you Mrs. Helene for taking our little Annie!
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