Animals Welcome by Peg Kehret

Author:Peg Kehret [Kehret, Peg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101574942
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2012-08-15T16:00:00+00:00

Edgar

One morning when Edgar had been with me about two weeks, I went into his room and saw him sitting on top of a cupboard. Instead of leaping down and hiding, as he always had before, he remained where I could see him. A few days later, he waited on the floor while I put fresh food in his bowl.

Finally the day came when he let me pet him. A few days after that, I was sitting in the chair one afternoon, reading, when Edgar came and stood beside me, looking up. I realized he was thinking about jumping into my lap.

I set the book down. “Come on, Edgar,” I said, patting my knees. “Get up here.”

He jumped into my lap. I stroked his back, and soon he began to purr. I felt like cheering! The sound of a cat purring is a happy sound under any circumstances. Knowing Edgar’s background, the purr was especially welcome.

Once he decided he was safe, Edgar blossomed. He began to play with his toys, batting the catnip mice around and leaping after the feather-on-a-stick. He let me pick him up. He followed me around when I cleaned his room.

I introduced him to Lucy, thinking he would be more adoptable if I could say he got along with my dog. First I put a baby gate in the doorway so that Lucy and Edgar could see each other but still be separated. After a couple of days of letting them eye one another through the gate’s plastic mesh, I let Lucy into the cat room. She acted a little scared of Edgar, and he ignored her at first. Soon they sniffed noses and from then on, they were pals. Lucy wagged her tail whenever she saw him, and Edgar would try to rub up against her. Sometimes they curled up together in Edgar’s bed and had a nap.

Molly wanted no part of it. She had decided long ago, first with Buddy and then with Chester, that she would not tolerate the addition of any more cats to the household. When she saw Edgar through the baby gate, her tail whipped back and forth, and she hissed at him. Many times when I’d reenter the main part of the house from the cat room, I’d find Molly standing next to the door with her fur puffed up, clearly outraged by my disloyalty.

Except for when there was another cat in the house, Molly was a sweet, shy cat who never caused a bit of trouble. I had promised myself I would not adopt any of the foster cats because if I did, I wouldn’t be able to continue as a foster parent. Since Edgar was not going to stay permanently, I decided Molly did not need to adjust to him, and I simply kept them apart.

I sometimes shut Molly in a bedroom and let Edgar explore the whole house. He was a curious cat who jumped up on all the furniture and poked his nose into every corner.

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