Pets

We own a cat. Her name is Angel, and she is a shy calico creature. She came into our lives two years ago through a string of circumstances:
1. My oldest daughter wanted a cat.
2. My oldest daughter had bargained with her father for a cat in return for wearing her dreaded, hated, abhorred eye patch every day.
3. She only had to keep her part of the bargain for three more weeks (surprise! joy!)
4. Right at this juncture, a secretary at my husband's work rescued an abused and neglected cat.
5. The secretary needed a home for the poor, darling thing.
6. As the official Home for Unwanted, Deformed, and Unusual Animals (The hissing, biting, clawing, Jack Rabbit; the Unusually Stinky Guinea Pigs; The Three Miracle Fish that would not die; our dear, deformed parrot Quasimodo; etc.) it was inevitable that we would end up meshing together a little girl who wanted to cuddle and adore her very own cat with a cat that despised all humans.
We have reached a separate peace with Angel. She lives in the attic of the garage and generally ignores us, and we give her food and water, the occasional scraps, and if she's lucky someone changes her litter box. Sarai gets an occasional happy glimpse of her cat, and her cat has kept our big house rodent-free. It's a win-win for us all.
So, the other day, I was remembering what it was like to live in a house where the cats paid you the courtesy of ignoring you to your face. 'Wouldn't it be nice to have a little ball of fur to curl up on your lap every so often?' I thought. (As if all of the fuzzy small people curling up on my lap at every opportunity aren't MORE than enough).
And then, the surprise. Unbeknownst to us (and with no effort on my part, for once), our family expanded. A rare Angel sighting was augmented with a tiny black fuzzball trotting along behind her. We have a kitten! Just one, but it's an opportunity to start over with a cat that likes people and wants to be petted and loved. We just have to catch it first. And since all efforts in that direction have ended with scratches, breaking tools, and small people stuck headfirst in large piles of lumber, that might be a challenge.