A big blue gray cat was curled up on the very top shelf in the Animal Shelter, all by himself. As a widow I was looking for a constant companion. Cats and kittens were milling all around me. I peeled off a kitten that had climbed my jeans. My eyes locked with those of the blue gray cat. From nowhere a voice spoke in my head, “”This is the cat you are looking for.” I wondered what the cat was thinking. Perhaps, “She will never choose me, with all those cute little kittens wanting a home. Nobody wants me.” I reached up with my finger for blue gray to smell it as I looked again into his deep green eyes. “You are so beautiful,” I said. “I choose you.” Again, I read the cat’s thoughts, “…and I choose you.” “We call him Sterling,” the helper said. Thus began Sterling and my relationship, with many high points and a few low ones, but no regrets.
Sterling probably thought I did not mean what I said because I did not take him home with me. That last night in the Shelter must be a long one for him. It is a busy time for me because I do not have any equipment or preparation for a cat to join me in my widowed household. A knowledgeable cat owner friend helps me make a list and purchase the items she insists I need.
Early the next morning Sterling goes in the carrier and I wobble my way to the car. “I did not dream you would be so heavy,” I inform Sterling. He doesn’t hear me because he is meowing so loudly. Surely he will stop when the car starts. But he does not. He yells louder, if that is possible. I try singing. Bad idea. Maybe try the music I have on CD? It doesn’t help. For sure he has a strong voice, too loud to hear my soft one. How many more miles until we get home? Steering with my left hand I reach through the bars in his carrier with the same finger he had sniffed in the Shelter. He touches his nose to the finger again and is perfectly still until we reach his new home.
