The Kitten Sisters

I woke up and the two gorgeous ladies were no longer sleeping next to me. So I get up and walk to the kitchen and ask as I round the corner with a smile over inner joy, "Where's my girls?"...

And I am welcomed by the sight of a sleek black kitten sliding to a stop in front of me, quickly followed by a tiger striped kitten half the size, colliding next to her adopted sibling. They mew and prance as they await the morning meal and social event before I have to go to work.

And that's mainly what I've been doing the last month: Watching the two little charges, coming to their rescue while their original parents figure things out. You see, my friend Nikki and her roommate Christine got a kitten, simply because Christine wanted to have a cutie kitty face to rub. This sort of reminds me of those stupid high school girls that want to get pregnant just so they can have a living "doll" to dress up, as they think that would be so cool and cute.

Surprise. Taking care of living things is hard work.

Well, the tiny black kitten rightfully gravitated towards Nikki and her sparkling warm and open personality. So, Christine later got another kitten to be hers. And, guess what happened? When you're a person who can't illicit a real human emotion, pets tend to not wanna hang with you after a while. I suggest fish next time, they can't run away.

Anyway, somehow, thier apartment overlords somehow found out that these fur faces were illegally squatting at thier pad. So, of course, like usual I was called to come to the rescue, and have the kitten sisters live with me for a while.

At first I didn't want too, in fact I was very pissed about it and disn't really know why I was very resistant to the idea. I'd watched the tiny blackie for a week once: she ate my earphones. But, dammit, I did it for my brilliant friend Nikki, and the kittens came to me.

After a week, I knew exactly why I didn't want the sisters. It hit me when I was sitting in my chair, with two feline children asleep in my lap: I really fell in love with them and didn't want them to go. Maybe it was the times we played together with balls of foil or random items. Or the times I refereed their long wrestling matches. Usually the wee one would jump her older sister, and I'd either have to brake them apart when the "uncle" mewing started, to making sure that the fight was fair.

"Be nice to your little sister!", "Well, you're going to be pinned if you're the one who jumped her. She is bigger than you!"

Maybe it was the quiet time when they'd both be asleep in perfect little balls. One on the computer table resting her head on my typing hand, making me spam the letter "Q" all over my text, and the tiniest one curled up between my feet, as she was too young to jump as high as the chair seat.

Maybe it was the good time when they'd stalk me and pounce with such exuberance, that I laughed out loud.

Maybe it was the time the girls started to sleep next to me at night and I woke up to the sensation of an adolescent feline suckling my ear. Just like that, I had been adopted as their mommy.

The mornings were always wonderfully the same. Woke up, fed them, cleaned out the catbox while they sat next to each other and watched. Called them to me before I left for work and gave them both a hug. "..be good little ladies, okay? I'll be back in a few hours." I'd think about them while doing my job, and then be greeted with a cuddle fest when I came home and asked, "Were are my girls?!"

But the day I was hoping would never come, came. Nikki and Christine were going their separate ways, and Christine wanted to take her cat back. The sisters were going to be going away, and be split up, never to see each other again. And, I'll never see them again either. Even now, thinking about their tiny broken hearts makes me sad.

They'll never sleep next to each other, or feel the others presence. The elder sister was starting to really get into grooming her baby sibling, and even helping her cover her kitty poo with litter: she was teaching her how to be a lady. And the baby girl was growing up before my eyes so fast! A handfull became two, in no time. And she even managed her greatest feat, to leap upon the chair seat to join the rest of her family.

And that family is broken apart.

I know Nikki will take great care of the black one, now named "Gigi" (who, the entire time, I refused to call the original name Christine came up with. Who names a pretty girl cat "Chester"?!), and maybe I'll visit them soon. She's grown to quite a beautiful sleek lady. And to her credit, Nikki was as heart broken as I was, and understood.

The tiger striped baby kat... I have no real idea how she's doing. Last I heard, she was given to someone else. I think about the little mewing often, as I am still cleaning up the stray litter grains sprinkled about.

I think about both the kitten sisters, and how empty my place has become.