Graceful Disaster

This was getting to be ridiculous. A hot guy was hung up on me and all I could think about was how I could adopt Clara (well it was more like I was avoiding the first thought train all together). I was going to go in and ask Julie straight out tomorrow. That cat was a Godsend and I needed to claim her before someone else did.

To my surprise, the next day when I arrived, Julie pulled me aside. “I need your help.”

“Sure. What is it?”

She shifted uncomfortably, her usually brightly lit face seemed troubled. “It’s Clara.”

My heart squeezed to a stop for a second. “What happened? Is she sick again? Is she—“

“Oh, God no. Nothing like that.” She gave a wry smile. “It’s just that….did she act…strange toward you yesterday?”

I thought about it. Nothing out of the ordinary came to mind. “No, she was fine. Cute as a button as always.”

Julie gave me a doubtful look. “She just bit a little girl who wanted to see her. Then she took a swipe at the parents.”

I gave a disbelieving laugh. “No, not Clara. Not Sneezy.” Julie raised an eyebrow and motioned for me to follow her. I walked down the hallway to the Kitten Room and saw what Julie had been worrying about. For a few seconds, Clara’s tail wasn’t its usual thin self. It actually looked like a bottle brush tail and her fur had fluffed to twice its normal size. She was a Cheesy Poof.

It seemed like once she spotted me, however, her fur deflated and she mewed good-natured. I walked past a stunned Julie and scooped Clara into my arms. “Hey Sweet Girl. How are you?” I loved cooing to her. I felt like a little girl with a baby doll again, only this one purred and licked my hand with her sandpaper tongue. “You’re not possessed, right?” I held her under her armpits in front of me and gazed at her small, innocent face.

She sneezed.

“That’s what I thought.”

Julie had found her tongue among the cats and walked up to me. “How-how are you holding her?” She showed me her hands that were thoroughly bandaged and gazed at me enviously.

“I don’t know.” Secretly, I was relishing in the fact that Clara liked me better. “Do you know, Baby girl?” She mewed again and shoved her head under my chin as I returned to holding her like an infant. Julie mumbled something about checking on the food dishes by the dogs and walked out of the room.

I stared down at the small ball of adorable fluff. An idea struck me.

“Were you following my orders from yesterday?”

Clara gazed up at me and blinked. Of course she couldn’t hear me. What was I thinking? Instead, I turned my thoughts to Louis and what the hell I should do if he was in the parking lot again. At least he didn’t know where I lived. I would probably have to change my locks if that were the case.

“I don’t know anymore, Clara. This guy is confusing the hell outta me. I don’t know whether to be ecstatic that this amazing looking guy seems to think that he can’t function without me, but at the same time, I have no idea if he’s some crazy stalker that just happens to be blessed with good looks. Like Reese Witherspoon’s boyfriend in Fear.” I sighed and scratched behind her ears.

“Would you like to come home with me, Cheesy Poof? Do you think you would like that?”

I stared down at her again. “I would love it.”

I looked around the room expecting to see that girl standing at the door again. This joke was getting old.

The only problem was that I was alone in the room full of kittens.

“Did you hear that little’un?” I glanced down at her and noticed that her eyes were staring unblinkingly at my face. She cocked her head to the side again.

“Of course I did. I’m the one who said it.”

I think I fainted at that point. I hope I didn’t hurt a kitten as I collapsed in a heap on the floor. I’m pretty positive that before I closed my eyes, Clara curled up on my chest and began to clean her fur.

“Humans…”