Breaking News

This may come as no surprise to some of you, not to include the man of the house who is traveling right now, but there is a kitten in my laundry room. The cat who is upstairs and refuses to come down is filing a grievance against me.

Background: for some months now there has been a lot of stray cat activity on our street. In our yard we've seen a black cat who looks just like the one hiding upstairs, and at least 2 kittens that seem to be related to the black cat. The kittens are black and white. Paul started feeding them in February, right after Pixie died. I was not in favor of this, but on the other hand, no one wants to see cats go hungry so how could I oppose it. I heard from a neighbor that several of us were feeding the same cats and through the miracle of the internets with its new-fangled mail machine, we all agreed that neighbor Lisa would take over the exclusive feeding so we could trap the cats and take them to get shots and neutered and so forth.

During a moment of weakness I said I'd take one of the kittens.

So now there is a kitten in my laundry room.

I'd provide a photo but she won't allow herself to be photographed.

Julie, don't read this. I let the kitten out of the trap last night. She and Pepper made eye contact. The kitten did not come out of the laundry room, and in fact, she is so well hidden in there that for a while I thought she was somewhere else in the house. But this morning her food dish is empty, so I know she is in there.

I also know she is in there because this morning the curtains have been pulled down and a candle holder is broken in the bathroom sink. I'd say we are off to a good start.

So now the laundry room door is open and we are waiting for her to get bored with wherever she is hiding. "We" is really just me, as Pepper is boycotting the whole caper by refusing to come downstairs.

The kitten looks like our cat Rosebud, who died in December of 2005. I don't know how anyone can resist a black and white tuxedo cat.

I know I can't.