Frantic Hungry Kitten

While not sleeping (as usual) on a night when the moon was just-past-full out at my parents house, I decided to go sit on the porch and play Solitaire on my phone.  We have no phone service out there so that was all that was available for entertainment!  Sad, isn't it.  But I didn't want to turn on any lights to read and I had forgotten the password I had chosen a few months ago for my mom's computer.  Man, I hate it when that happens.  I really wanted to check out the status of our group in Romania, but it was not to be.

So outside I went.  Yes, in my nightgown.  Barefoot.  No flashlight.  It was a beautiful night.  The moonlight illuminated the pastures and fields and I could pick out landmarks almost as well as if the sun were shining.  And the temperature was great.  The wind was blowing gently, the crickets and the locusts were giving their nighttime serenade.  I was hoping that soon, I would be too drowsy to decide where the red jack went in the game and I would be back in dreamland soon.

Did I mention that my parents have a new kitten?  They have plenty of cats, but since the barn cats are a bit wild, my dad brought this new toy home for my niece to play with when they were out visiting last week.  Yes the barn cats are wild.  So is the new kitten, it turns out.  He is tame, as in catchable, but ADD when you try to pet it.  It might be part Siamese because it is very vocal and has this lean, hard little body, big ears and an extra long tail.  I had just gotten all comfortable in the chair outside when that little monster began to climb all over me, crying, biting, digging, burrowing in my neck and poking it's head under my arm. I thought perhaps it was hungry.  I went inside and groped around on the cabinet tops for a bit of Daisy's dog food, took it back out and made a neat little pile on the edge of the porch.  The kitten went right to eating, it's tail straight out and quivering with happiness.

Now, I thought, I will have some peace.  I fully expected the kitten to go curl up somewhere and go to sleep since it's tummy was all full, but no, back it came to my lap, once again, crying, nuzzling, sucking on my hair.  Perhaps it was not ready to leave it's momma, but it certainly looked big enough. No amount of pushing and shoving the little monster down made it leave me alone for good.

It's thirsty! I thought.  So I tried to carry the wiggling, squalling thing to the back yard to the water pan by the hydrant.  I had to keep a firm grip on the little beast and I finally let it down near the water.  I headed across the grass, barefooted (and thankful my mom no longer had chickens) to the water pan--attempting to lead the proverbial horse to water.  I even grabbed it and shoved it's little nose down in the water in case it didn't know why we were there, but the little brat tucked itself behind my heels and refused to get a drink.  My eyes searched the darkness, looking for what was scaring the little critter.  I saw two white spots slinking away from the back porch in the dark--it was momma cats from the barn, probably terrorizing the kitten before I came out!  They ran away but seeing them made me nervous to think about what other four-legged creature was hiding in the moon shadows of the trees--perhaps the kind of black and white kitty with a stripe down it's back!  Cautiously I sniffed the air but all I could smell was grass and trees and good country smells.  No whiff of skunk was coming to me in the breeze!

I was enjoying the moonlight, loving the night air, but at that point I gave up.  I quietly let myself back in the house and stretched out on the couch.  Just me and old Sol.

And no cat!