Kittens
This is a story that happened to a friend of mine. It is one of those heartwarming stories in which you can see the hand of God at work, in caring for the needs of his creatures. Molly, who was in her twilight years loved nothing more than sitting out in her yard on warm summer days feeding the birds. The local sparrows knew where they could come for a free meal and continued to show up day after day.
One day a cat and her kitten appeared while Molly was out waiting for the birds. She assumed they must be feral, so the next time she went shopping she bought some cat food. Thus began the daily ritual when mother and kitten would come by for their meal. This went on all summer and brought Molly immense enjoyment. During this time, Molly often noticed a shy tortoiseshell cat lurking nearby. She thought that surely such a beautiful cat must have a home, therefore did not encourage her to hang around.
After some time had passed, the mother cat and kitten no longer came around. One of Molly’s routines was to exercise by walking up and down the lane outside her backyard. Whenever she did this, Molly noticed the tortie cat following her. Being somewhat concerned about the owner who must be missing this gorgeous little gal, Molly knocked on all the neighbour’s doors who lived adjacent to the lane. Nobody knew anything about the little tortie cat.
One evening in late fall as the nights grew colder, Molly found her feline friend perched outside the window of the back porch. She opened the window, and left it that way for most of the winter, so that Princess, as she called her, could come and go.
Around late January, Molly noticed that Princess no longer seemed interested in going outside. She spent most of her time eating and laying about. As she observed Princess gaining weight, Molly came to the realization that her princess was actually a queen.
Molly’s son, who lived in the basement apartment, noticed that Princess seemed to be searching for a place in the porch to have her litter. He invited her into his dwelling, where she settled into a comfortable corner. About one week later, she gave birth to 4 kittens.
After a couple of days Molly and her son noticed that one of the kittens was not gaining weight like the others and felt rather cold to the touch. Even though they tried feeding him by hand he died while Molly was holding him. She was heartbroken. Yet, a much more grievous loss was imminent. Molly and her son had a beloved terrier who had shared their lives for the past 18 years. The little dog had been growing weaker by the day, and eventually could no longer stand. The heart wrenching decision to euthanize had to be made.
At the time that the terrier was put down, the three little kittens had just opened their eyes and were a joy to watch as they eagerly explored their surroundings. Molly’s son had been concerned for some time as to how she would cope when their little dog was gone. His prayers and concerns were answered. The timing that the kittens came into their lives could only have been engineered by a loving God, who cares for both humans and animals. The kittens helped to ease the pain of Molly’s loss like nothing else could. Each morning she would awake, eager to go downstairs to investigate what new things they had discovered. She would hold the kittens and play with them, or just watch them wrestle with each other. She never realized how affectionate and loving that cats could be. Molly and her son have opened their hearts to this feline family, and decided to give them a forever home. The challenge now is: what do they name these three little sweeties?
