The Cat's Meow

Red’s eyes danced across the pages of the novel he was reading, content to be absorbed with the plot; he drowned out the sounds of the room and the outside world, his focus on the story almost lulling him into a trance.

“Hey, Red!” Delinna yelled at him from another room, and his concentration shattered. His head turned up and towards the source of the sound before he’d fully registered her voice. “Did you hear that?”

“Other than you, no,” he replied, far less loudly than his girlfriend, though his level tone denoted no irritation.

He marked his page and closed his book, setting it to the side to resume later, and then he listened, trying to hear whatever it was that Del was going on about. After a few minutes he decided that she had forgotten how much more astute her ears were than his. He couldn’t hear anything, aside from the mundane noises that were made by an occupied house- water through pipes, clocks ticking, the drone of the appliances in the kitchen- small sounds that were never of any notice.

Red stood slowly, his ankles cramping slightly after having been unused for a few hours. He came up behind Delinna without a word, resting his head on her shoulder and following the almost humorously serious gaze she was casting towards their back yard.

“What is it?” he finally asked, unable to see or hear whatever oddity had captured Delinna’s attention. His head remained on her shoulder, his arms wrapped gently around her waist.

“You really don’t hear that?”

“Not a thing.”

Delinna’s brow furrowed as she tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from, hoping that she could find the source, Red assumed.

“Look!” Delinna pointed out the window of their back door, and immediately Red understood how  the strange noise had been able to capture Del’s attention so easily.

A small kitten was trembling under a thick bush, its grey and white fur disheveled and dirty. It looked weak and probably hungry, and Red didn’t try to stop Del as she pulled away from his embrace and went after it. He smiled as he watched her kneel down in front of the bush, cooing softly at the kitten as she tried to coax it out. He watched for twenty minutes or so before he could see she was beginning to get frustrated that the cat wouldn’t come out. She couldn’t stand seeing animals in trouble, and it killed her when she wasn’t able to help them.

He grabbed two bowls from the kitchen- he filled one with water, and he quickly plopped a can of tuna into the other one. As quickly as he could without spilling anything, he silently approached the bush under which the kitten was hiding. He placed the bowls on the ground and then gently rested his hand on Del’s shoulder.

“Give it a bit o’ time,” he whispered. “Surely the wee thing is scared.”

Delinna nodded and rose slowly to her feet, though her eyes stayed glued to the kitten until she finally turned away to watch from inside. She was disheartened that she couldn’t get it to come to her, but she didn’t take it too hard. She still watched the bowls from the window, waiting to see if the kitten would eat. She could still hear its high-pitched mewling from under the bush (Red still could not) and she wanted desperately to go out again to try to rescue it.

Sensing her frustration, Red gently steered her out of the kitchen and into the living room, where she could no longer see the ‘watched pot,’ and the cat could emerge at its own pace without the enthusiastic demon staring at it. He went back into the kitchen to make them lunch, glancing toward the doorway to make sure Del wasn’t trying to sneak past him to watch for the cat again. While he was cooking, he occasionally gave a quick glance out the window. He didn’t catch sight of the kitten, though while the food was cooling, he did notice that both the tuna and the water seemed to be gone.

Without a word, he carried the food back out to the living room, handing Del her plate and setting his carefully on the arm of the couch beside his favorite spot. Before she could question where he was going he was already gone; he grabbed a bottled water from the pantry and another can of tuna (he was thankful for pull-tabs) and went outside as quietly as he could, hoping that Del wouldn’t hear the door. He crouched carefully in front of the bush, moving slowly so that he wouldn’t scare the kitten, assuming it was still there. He poured about half of the bottled water into the bowl for it, and then opened the can of tuna.

He hadn’t even poured the fish into the bowl before the kitten came rocketing out of the bush, its nose shoved into the bowl the second the can was emptied. Once it had scarfed down the second can of tuna, it looked up from the bowl and mewled, as if it was asking for more food. Red was surprised that the kitten came up to him so readily. He held out his hand for it to sniff (while it probably just smelled like tuna, he didn’t think the cat would mind) and it rubbed its head against him. Tentatively, he reached down to pick up the tiny thing, fully expecting it to dash back under the bush as soon as he made his move. It didn’t.

The kitten made no move and was purring the moment that he picked it up. He held it close to his chest, hoping to warm the poor thing up, and it snuggled in peacefully. Although still somewhat surprised considering how timid it had seemed when Del was out there, he was glad he was able to grab it, hopefully they could find someone who could take it in, give it a home and nurse it back to health.

“What are you doing?” Delinna finally called into the kitchen, confused. “Your food’s bound to be getting cold.”

He didn’t answer her, he simply walked back to the living room, grey and white bundle of fur purring loudly against his chest.

“It came out?” Del jumped excitedly from the couch, nearly spilling the rest of her lunch to the floor.

“She’s skinny and cold, but from what I can tell she doesn’t seem hurt otherwise,” he told her, rather than responding to her not-quite-question.

“That’s a relief.” Delinna looked the kitten over as best she could from where she stood, nearly rocking in excitement.

“She seems to be friendly, if you wanna pet her.” Red knew she wanted to pet her.

She held out her hand for the kitten; she sniffed it and then flattened herself back into Red’s chest; animals always seemed to be wary around Delinna, despite how much she loved them.

“She’ll come around,” Red assured her.

Del was worried that the kitten wouldn’t come around. She knew as well as Red did that animals tended to be frightened of demons. She returned to her chair, and Red to the sofa, where his now-cold lunch was waiting for him. He sat the kitten on the couch as he ate, letting her get cozy on the soft fabric.

The couple sat in the living room as they always did, nearly forgetting that they still had a small kitten with them, too; Red had returned to his novel and Del had switched on the TV. The kitten was still asleep on the couch- at least, she had been the last time anyone had taken notice.

“Mrow!” Delinna almost jumped when the cat mewed in her ear, startled by the sudden noise, much like how she had unintentionally startled Red earlier. The kitten was on the top of her chair, batting at stray strands of her hair.

“I told you she’d come around,” Red said, looking up from his book just long enough to give his girlfriend a smile.

And come around she did. After just a few days of love and attention, Blue (named for bluefin tuna, which remained her favorite treat) seemed like an entirely different cat. Her matted fur was carefully groomed, revealing a soft coat of gorgeous grey and white, and after a few days of food and clean water, her blue eyes seemed to brighten. She almost immediately grew attached to them, purring whenever either of them came near. She seemed completely at home.

Her initial wariness of Delinna hardly seemed possible after just a few days. The kitten shadowed Del wherever she went, played with her hair and sat between her horns, woke her from naps and sleep when she wanted attention, watched out the window when she’d been out for too long...
They hadn’t planned to keep the cat, but sometimes things just happened. It was impossible to argue with the little furball- especially when she stretched out so that she could lay on Red and Del both as they cuddled contently on the couch, fitting in as if she had always been with them.