Accusations

Last night we were sure we had a murderer in the family. You see, we have a new creature stirring in our house. It's an orange kitty that Lilia named Blossom, but he's a boy. Kulani says he's like a "cherry blossom," which in old Japanese culture used to signify the kamakaze warrior. The kitty is on the daring and crazy side. We've only had him since Saturday. We got him from an old man in Ben's neighborhood. There I was, minding my own business, when this old man named Peter approached me. The man wore two button-up plaid shirts, and I later find out he can't hear or see very well. I was standing in Ben's driveway when he appeared. He asked if we wouldn't like a kitty. His momma cat just had three kittens, and his wife was making him give them away. He wouldn't take my hesitation as a no. He insisted me and the girls go over to his house and take a look. Once I saw the kittens and the girls started begging, I couldn't say no. Peter almost cried to see his kitten go.

But we brought him home, gave him some food, showed him his litter box, and he's been surprisingly easy to take care of, even more so than our dog. The only complaint is that he uses my leg as a scratching post, runs all over the keyboard when I'm trying to do work, and occasionally hisses at Jesse, but for good reason.

Jesse, our dog, has been a little put out. Last night around 7 o'clock, we could not find Blossom. We looked upstairs, downstairs, under every bed, everywhere. Kulani went outside to look. Then I went outside to look. No Blossom. By 9 o'clock we started getting scared. By 10 o'clock we started thinking Jesse might have done something to him.

"My guess is that he got outside and either a coyote or Jesse ate him," Kulani said. The thought of Jesse killing Blossom really made me sad. How could I harbor a killer in my house? For a slight second, and in a very small way, I imagined what it must have been like to be Eve when Cain murdered Abel.

Around 10:30 p.m. while I was making some cheesecake to go along with our Thanksgiving dinner to be had on Thursday, I heard a very faint, "Meow." Kulani was about to go outside one last time and look for Blossom's mangled remains. I said, "Wait. I hear a meow." Kulani thought I was imagining things or hearing Blossom's floating spirit. Every time I went to the pantry, the meows got louder. Was he hiding behind the flour? I finally found him in an empty box on the bottom shelf of the pantry. He'd gotten stuck and couldn't get out. We were so relieved to have found him. The girls went to bed thinking they'd lost their kitty.

I woke up this morning to this:


Blossom quickly made himself welcome in our home.