On a blustery winter day in 2006, my eight-year-old daughter
found a tiger striped cat under our neighbor’s RV. She coaxed the cold
and hungry kitty out with cheese, then picked her up, and brought her home.
The cat spent the night in our mud room.
I always promised my kids if they found an abandoned cat or dog that they could keep it.
Jill named her new kitty, Tiger.
A couple of weeks later, we discovered that Tiger was going to be a mama.
On April 10th, Good Friday, Tiger gave birth to four kittens. We
had placed a box with blankets in a quiet space hoping that Tiger would not leave to
give birth. She trusted us enough to have her babies close to us.
The girl kitten was her mama’s mini me. The three brothers were black
and white, or solid black.
While Jill and her brothers did not see the birth, they did see the newborn kittens within hours of their birth.
To see such wonder in their eyes, as they saw the four kittens was truly a Good Friday.
Sheila Kirk became interested in writing and storytelling in first grade. She enjoyed writing assignments and started writing short stories in high school to amuse her friends. She enjoys writing horror and dark comedy.