rings. I answer the door and find the little girl and her parents wearing big smiles. The girl yells “Snowflake!” and runs past me. The cat immediately perks up, runs to the girl and jumps in her arms, then starts licking her. The girl hugs her tight.
I feel my eyes well up a bit as I usher her parents inside.
“Thank you so much,” says her mother, the spitting image of her daughter. “By the way, I’m Joanne and he’s Jonathan. My daughter has been devastated since the cat went missing. How did you find her?”
“I saw her in the window when it was raining, so I brought her in. Then I realized she was the lost cat on the flyer. I was in the deli when you guys came by.”
“Really nice of you,” says her dad, a tall, sandy-haired man around thirty who looks like a young Robert Redford. He smiles as he watches the girl and the cat.
“Looks like your daughter and Snowflake have a special bond.”
The guy turns back to me. “Oh, I’m not her dad. I’m her uncle. Joanne’s brother.”
The woman drops her voice a bit. “My ex is out of the picture.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Don’t be. Samantha and I are doing fine. And Jonathan is a big help.”
I hear the tortoiseshell crying from the spare room.
The little girl looks at the door. “Oh, you have a cat too?”
“Right now I have four little kittens. You wanna see them?”
“Yeah!”
I lead everyone to the spare room where I find the tortoiseshell sitting up in front of the other three, as it’s feeding time. The little girl kneels down and begins petting them. “Where’s the mother cat?” she asks.
“Well, unfortunately she went to cat heaven.”
“Oh no.”
I tell them the story of finding the kittens. “Anyway, I’m taking her place until they’re old enough to feed themselves. Would you like to help me bottle feed them?”
The little girl turns to her mother. “Can I, mom? Please?”
“Sure, honey.”
I go to the kitchen and return with the bottles of formula. I sit on the floor next to Samantha and show her how it’s done. “Okay, now, hold your kitten very gently and put the bottle in front of it. It knows what to do.”
The child follows my instructions and beams as the kitten latches onto the bottle and begins draining it.
Her mother pulls out a cell phone. “Oh, this is too cute. I have to get a picture and some video of this.” She crouches down and aims the phone.
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