waiting for magic...

This weekend is a good one for me. I’m working a couple extra shifts at a clubhouse in Des Moines. This is all very good because I was recently informed that because of the ladybug tattoos Sarah and I got last July, I can’t donate any plasma until this July. Plasma donation was going to be my “second job” this summer; hence, I’m happy to be working a little more this weekend. I’m also house-sitting for Betsey this weekend.

This house was purchased in a state of disrepair. I can remember all too well knocking down lats and plaster. Although it is nowhere near finished, the before and after pictures of Betsey and George’s bedroom should give you some idea.


Before Betsey left this weekend, she was hoping Lucy, her pregnant Persian, would give birth (the kittens were due Thursday). I’ve never been around an overdue cat, and I was a little nervous. What if something went wrong? I’m certain this fear stems from a Christmas story my mom used to read to me. Betsey assured me, however, that Lucy is a very good mother, and that there was a veterinarian near by just in case something went wrong. On Saturday morning, I got up to go to work. All the cats were talking to me. Lucy was very friendly. Shelley wanted to play in my laundry. Charlie pretended he didn’t want me to notice him, but he kept mysteriously following me around until I filled up the food bowl (which had food already in it, by the way, but he wanted the “new” food).

I left the house, and when I came back from work at two, I couldn’t find Lucy. I figured she had probably found a safe place to have her babies, but none of the “safe places” Betsey had set up for her were occupied. Nor was she under any of the beds. I went around the house, calling “Lucy!” Charlie and Shelley thought this was great fun, and followed me around as I called for her. They were acting very strange. Every time I called Lucy’s name, Shelley would meow. Charlie just kept giving me meaningful looks. Finally, I said to him, “Charlie, where’s Lucy?” “Where’s Lucy?” I asked again. I followed him as he pranced through Betsey and George’s bedroom and into their walk-in closet. He sauntered over to the wall where Betsey keeps here shoes, but I saw no Lucy.


I looked under the shoes. I looked on the piles of clothes. I saw no Lucy. I asked Charlie my question again. He meowed. Still I couldn’t see Lucy. Well thanks Charlie I sighed. He walked over to the chair right outside the closet, laid down, and looked at me smugly. Fine I thought, take a nap. The rest of the afternoon I looked for Lucy, but never found her. Rob came by and we went to go see X-Men and get dinner. When we came back, we sat on the couch. Shelley came down the stairs. Lucy came down the stairs. She was meowing very insistently. I rushed over to her. After talking to us for a couple of minutes, and wandering around downstairs, Lucy finally led us upstairs, still mewing. She led me…through Betsey’s bedroom and into the walk-in closet. I heard a tiny “mew.” Lucy walked right over to where Charlie had led me. She hopped onto the piles of clothes, and then into a box I hadn’t even noticed. It had some clothes, a stuffed pig, now Lucy, and a tiny white and black (cream and black?) baby kitten. Just one kitten. The kitten cried and Lucy purred, looking at me. Yes momma, I told her, you should be proud. And it was clear that she was. Very proud. I pat her head, scratched behind her ears. I looked over at the chair right outside the door and realized that Charlie had sat there all day, looking out for her.

This morning when I woke up, Lucy was waiting to show me her kitten. I gathered my things, but before I left, she made sure to show me the kitten again. Proud momma.

Posted by Dana on Sunday, May 28, 2006 at 1:23 PM | Permalink