On Christmas Eve at my parent's house, we discovered a little gray and white, long-haired kitten under the eaves.
She was crying.
My sister told me about her, and inititally I was worried she would be a mean, bitey sort of cat. My mother was apprehensive, not wanting to bring her into the garage, because that is where her cat, Maggie, lives.
But after everyone went to bed, Beloved and I crept outside to see what the kitten was all about. I tucked some of Maggie's treats in my pocket. When I crept over to the eaves, a little bundle of fur came tumbling out, so very cold and hungry. She looked to be about four months old ... too young to survive on her own. I held out my gloved hand with treats on it, and she wolfed them down, then tried to scale my leg.
Finally, I picked her up. She was so cold. She burrowed into my scarf, meowing plaintively. I asked Beloved to fetch a box, and we made her a little shelter there under the eaves where the snow was melted from the warmth of the corn boiler pipes.
I knew she wouldn't make it until Tuesday morning when the shelter opened, and as she couldn't stay with Maggie, I called my best friend's mother, who is an angel sent straight from God. She said she would take in the kitten until Tuesday when the shelter opened and deliver her safely there.
On Christmas morning after the presents were opened, Blondie and I gathered up Snow Kitten and put her in a box and drove her over to the angel's house. There in her garage was a little crate with a blanket, a litter box and food and water. We put down Snow Kitten and she gulped down the food, then leaped into the garage to explore. I wish I would've gotten a photo of her, as she had clear beautiful eyes and looked to a be a Maine Coon, but I think she was worried when we picked her up after she ate that we would steal her away from this wondrous indoor warm place with food and water, and thus she stole away.
This morning I e-mailed with my other mother, who said Snow Kitten is doing very well and is very sweet. Knowing Snow Kitten survived both nights and would have a chance to be adopted was to me a Christmas miracle of sorts, one the little angel didn't fully absorb, but I did. Petunia would be dead by now if we hadn't adopted her, and it is my prayer that someone in southwest Iowa will take home Snow Kitten, for it's clear she was abandoned and has, as the little angel would say, a lot of love in her heart.
It was a lovely Christmas for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason of all was Snow Kitten and her new life.
Love and kittens to you and yours this holiday weekend. And if you live in southwest Iowa or eastern Nebraska and are interested in the most beautiful kitten ever, please let me know.
