Cat Stories You'll Love by Colleen Sell

Author:Colleen Sell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cats, stories, inspiration
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-01-03T00:00:00+00:00

A Purrfect Match

By Sarah Wagner

At the age of four I was a normal little girl who loved animals and wished more than anything for a small, furry friend to keep me company. When I would ask for a kitten, my parents would always cite my father’s allergies as the reason I could not have a cat. No kittens for Sarah on her birthday. No kittens for Christmas. No kittens at all. That didn’t stop me from asking. Frequently. Every holiday that children are given presents, I asked for a cat.

The tension in our house was pretty high. My parents were always arguing about something. Even so young, I had enough friends at daycare whose parents were separated to see what was coming. I don’t remember the talk my mother had with me the day my dad moved out, but she has told the story a thousand times.

With great dread, my mom sat me down to explain why my dad would be living in another house. She had her speech prepared; all the things she would say to mend a daddy’s girl’s heart. Before she could utter a word, I looked up at her with my dark eyes (she’d later decide the look was calculating) and asked her, “Are you and Daddy getting divorced?” She nodded, stammering a “Y-yes” and throwing up a silent thank-you to an overpopulated daycare and a sudden surge in Spokane’s divorce rate. Without hesitation, as if I’d been planning for this moment for all four years of my life, I made an offer. “Can I get a cat now?”

She sat there dumbfounded for a moment (and secretly proud of her daughter’s bartering skills). Thrilled not to have to pick her way through the minefield of that conversation, she quickly agreed. The bargain was struck. I was to have my heart’s greatest desire. That is a grand thing for a little girl.

For the next few days it was all I could talk about, all I could think about. I was getting a cat. Me. I told everyone at daycare. I told everyone in line at the grocery store. I told anyone who would look at me for longer that two seconds that I was getting the kitten I’d “always wanted my whole life.” I remember people smiling at me a lot.

The big day came with much fanfare. I leapt out of my brand-new big-girl bed, ran down the hall, and pounced on my poor sleeping mother. After breakfast, she loaded me into the little gray car, and we drove to a ranch-style house. The house I remember quite clearly, probably because I thought, even then, that it was ugly. It was small and salmon-colored with dark green trim, tiny windows, and too many shrubs in the front. It struck me as a dark place.

I don’t remember any small talk, although I’m sure there was some. I don’t remember what the mother looked like or much about her two kids, who were down the hall playing with a kitten and a bit of string.

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