One faint, half-hearted mew, big eyes fixed on Gwen, and the key was sighing in defeat and sliding the porch door open.
“I don’t have any cat food,” she warned.
The cat stalked in, tail high, and went straight for the dog dish. She sat beside it expectantly.
“It’s dog food,” Gwen told her, getting a handful of Fabio’s nuggets from the tin under the counter.
The sound, of course, woke Fabio from wherever he was sleeping, and there was a clatter of dog claws on the wooden floors above them, then the eager thump-thump-thump-thump of him tromping down the stairs.
The cat crunched on the dog food, unconcerned, as Fabio skidded into the room and stopped cold.
Gwen, a dish towel in her hand, found herself in a fighting pose, ready to intervene at the first sign of trouble.
Fabio’s tail began to wave, slowly, and he trotted forward cautiously.
The cat ignored him, except for the barest flicker of her ears, and finished the food with a satisfied little mrrrrt.
Fabio, whose tail was approaching unseeable at the speed it was going, lowered his head to sniff her and the cat fearlessly butted her head into his nose and then twined between his feathered front legs while Fabio stood stone still in shock.
The cat walked to Gwen, looked up, and said something demanding in cat.
Gwen was still holding the dish towel, so she crouched down and proceeded to dry off the cat.
The cat, who Gwen was sinkingly sure would need a name soon, was all in favor of the procedure, rubbing her face into the towel and purring as Gwen gently dried her short fur.
Fabio could not be left out of such goings on, and he growled and tried to play with the towel. He got too rambunctious, and the cat gave him a warning hiss, but the bat of her paw across hisnose had claws withdrawn. It still gave Fabio pause, and he lay down with his face pressed into the floor contritely.
When the cat had been thoroughly dried, her short fur standing up in all directions, she stalked away from Gwen and jumped athletically up onto the arm of one of the living room chairs. She looked pointedly at the seat of the chair, glared at Gwen, and began grooming herself.
Fabio went to poke her with his nose, but this answering swipe did come with claws, and the cat gave him a blue-eyed stare that sent him back to the floor with his tail wagging furiously.
Gwen obediently took a seat next to the cat and was unsurprised when her lap was immediately claimed by kneading paws.
The cat was thin enough to feel every rib, and her tail was lumpy with bone and had a little crook at the end where it must have once been broken. She turned several times and then settled into a warm, purring weight in Gwen’s lap.
Gwen was still pinned there when Heather and Daniella returned from work.
“Where’s Fabio?” Daniella called, stomping her feet off on the mat just inside the front door.
Fabio whined, not wanting to move from his surveillance of the cat, but beat his tail against the floor. Gwen heard the scrabble of tiny claws as Heather set Vesta down, and in a moment, the tiny Italian Greyhound was streaking into the living room.
The cat, no longer purring, raised her head and swiveled big, dark ears at the incoming whirlwind.
Vesta came to a screeching stop at Gwen’s feet and gazed up as the cat dug alarmed claws into Gwen’s lap.
“Ow, ow, Vesta, stay down. Nice kitty, nice kitty.”
“You got a cat?” Heather exclaimed, walking into the living room.
“Oh, it’s a kitty!” Daniella cooed. “Where'd you find it?”
“Kitty foundme,” Gwen said, wincing. “Walked right up to the back door and made me let her in.”
The cat sat up, glaring down at Vesta, who had her front paws on Gwen’s leg and was hopping in place, barking in excitement. Fabio, determined not to be left out, stood up and shoved his nose into the cat’s side.
No one was entirely sure what order everything happened in after that, but Fabio tucked tail and went running with a scratched nose, and Vesta was rather suddenly boxed to the floor.
When the dust settled, the cat was grooming herself on the floor next to the chair with an apparent lack of concern, Vesta lying flat in utter shock nearby.
