Old Man Charlie

We have a very silly 17 year old cat. Or perhaps a more accurate statement would be that we have turned silly over our 17 year old cat. He is a bad kitty. Always has been. A friend told me I should blog some of these stories so here goes...

One Saturday morning near my husband and my 1st anniversary we awoke to the sound of something making quiet a racket outside our bedroom window. " What is that noise?" I asked. Tim replied, in a sleepy and irritated 

 voice, "A dumb bird" (he hates birds in the morning - imagine!). I listened for a minute. That was no bird - it was a frightened kitten crying for help! I jumped out of bed, threw on whatever clothes were on the floor, and ran out the front door. Was the kitten in the flowers in front of our townhouse? Was it somewhere near the sidewalk? I listened, following the sound.

There in the bushes in front of the apartment building across our street was a little, gray, sort of speckled kitten. He was so small! Couldn't have been over 8 weeks - separated from his mother at too young an age. I walked across the street and carefully approached the kitten, not wanting to scare him away. Each time a car drove by, he would leap back toward the shelter of the building, scraping his already slightly bloody nose. Poor little baby!

I held out my hand, twiddled my fingers, and lured him toward me. His huge green eyes met mine, and it was love at first sight. The little guy came right to me, letting me put him in my arms. I carried him back across the street to our apartment. By this time, Tim had gotten himself out of bed and met me on the porch. Oh, we cooed over him, scratched his chin, and held him close to us. Even Tim's heart melted just a little. But what should we do? 

We put up flyers, but no one claimed him, and thus began our long journey with this crazy guy. We couldn't afford a cat. We didn't have room for a cat.  We didn't really need the hassle of a pet what with Tim a full time grad student and me looking for a teaching position. But we kept him...and he's been trouble (and joy) ever since. Look how cute he is, though! We do indeed love him. 

More Charlie stories to come...