Gray Kitten

I had a cat once.

His name was Charlie and he was gray and white. He lived with us while he was a kitten. Well for a short time. I was about 10 I guess. I was afraid of Charlie's purring and my parents didn't really like him sleeping in our beds. Eventually, he was put in the bathroom at night with his litter boz and a night light.

You know, I don't ever remember changing that litter box. That must have been my parents' job. Probably fell mostly to Mom.

Charlie could be a bit naughty. He visited the neighbor's a few times amd got their gerbil out of its cage. Fortunately, we were able to rescue the little critter and friendly relations remained intact.

Charlie also put up with a lot. In addition to being confined at night, there was paw trampling and rough handling by a toddler. Finally he ran away. At least that's what we were told. I always suspected he might have been given away. Probably wrong, though. My parents always denied it.


After he left, I looked for Charlie for a long time. I kept finding gray and white kittens, even years afterwards only to find out they were someone elses.


I never got another cat. Or a dog. I had had turtles and fish, but I think Charlie was my last childhood pet. Maybe that's why I kept looking. I liked having a pet. When it wasn't scaring me with its friendliness anyway.

I suppose most things in life are like that. We take the bitter with the sweet, the good with the bad. We learn and grow through each experience and keep going. Perhaps, we look back too much and not forward enough. Or, sometimes it's the other way around. And maybe we are scared away by genuinely friendly gestures. Quite a lot to learn from the memory of a gray kitten.


At any rate, that's my pet story. Anyone else have one?