Twitches

Yesterday when we went to the van, an itty bitty black kitty ran out from under it as we approached. This is the smallest kitten we've seen here, so of course we had to follow it and try to hold it. The sweet little thing let us hold it, but since we were in a hurry we were not able to play with it long. When we got home, Annie begged to find and play with the kitten.

She easily found the kitten and played with it for four hours. For most of the time, Annie just sat there and let the kitten sleep on her. I was surprised at how content Annie was to sit for hours just holding this kitten. At one point I was concerned for the circulation to her legs becasue she was sitting in a kneeling position for a very long time, but Annie didn't want to move because she didn't want to disturb the kitten. When the kitten was awake, another stray cat hissed at it (either jealousy or to show who's boss). Annie got the big cat to scat. She played with the kitten's ears, and they twitched when she touched them, so she named the kitten Twitches. The girls made 2 runs to the kitchen to give the kitty warm milk. Also, there were some boys walking by who made fun of the kitten. Most nationals view strays as a nuisance, so they are treated unkindly. When Annie finally came in, she asked if the kitten could spend the night in our house, and I had to tell her no (Mike has horrible allergies). But I assured her she could play with the kitten whenever she saw it outside.

This morning we headed out fairly early, and the kitten let us play with it again. We could not stay and play, but I told the girls they could play with the kitten for most of the afternoon. So all morning while we were out they were dreaming of playing with this kitten.

Today is a cold and rainy fall day. It's a horrible day to play outside on the street. Since I promised the girls they could play with the kitten, I told them they could bring the kitten to our balcony and play if they promised to keep the kitten on our balcony. They enthusiastically promised. While I prepared lunch they got the balcony ready. They made a box with a bath towel in it for a place to rest. They prepared a milk bowl and a food bowl. They ate their lunch as fast as they could and headed on the quest for Twitches.

The girls went down in the cold, drizzly rain to find Twitches. They saw the kitten, and it ran under a car. As they approached the car, the kitten climbed to a place they couldn't reach. They tried to coerce the kitten, but to no avail. After 10 minutes I had them come inside because the rain was coming down harder. Since that time, they have made 4 trips to the street in search of the kitten. Each time they return downcast because they can't find Twitches.

If Twitches knew what awaited her on our balcony, I'm confident she'd seek out the girls. But for now the girls seek her out. The girls have prepared a place with hopes that they'll get to bring her up to our balcony one day. They have love and concern for the kitten, but because of how the kitten's been treated by other humans, she has an unhealthy fear of the girls. Our girls long to feed the kitten, and we bought the finest kitten food on the market waiting for her. Tonight I suppose she'll dine on the scraps in the garbage because it's all she knows.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of applications you can make with this story of the stray kitten. Hopefully we will win the trust of Twitches so we can love and care for her in some small way.