Take Me Down

5

Barking woke me up. Dogs in another room were rattled, and all the cats in this room were meowing. I groaned internally, opening my eyes. The light coming into the cage bothered my eyes until they adjusted to it.

"What's going on?" I questioned loudly over the noise. I went to the barred cage door and looked down through the cracks. The cat below me pushed his nose through the door below me.

"People here to adopt." He meowed and I nodded, pawing my fur. I cleaned myself up and shacked out my fur.

I sat down and watched as a man with two boys ran into the room. Automatically, I knew this wasn't the family for me. I did not want my tail to constantly be tugged on by some little bratty children. I shifted my fur slightly, making it look more scruffy. I put on an attitude and sat in the corner of the cage, flicking my tail wildly. The father was looking at the cat across from me, and the one kid was looking at me.

"Daddy! What about this one?" The kid said, pointing at me. The dad walked over to look at me and I hissed out, swatting my paw at the cage.

"Sorry son, not this one." He said, then went over to another cage.

"Why'd you do that! They would have adopted you!" The cat below me meowed quietly, and I circled and laid down, looking out through the wire door.

"Not the right family," I said, and he hissed.

"Any family is a good family!" He grumbled beneath me. He seemed more upset than I thought he should and didn't understand where it was coming from. I wondered if this was his last day as well.

A little blonde girl and her mother walked in, and I knew that this was potentially the right family.

"Now daddy said that we're getting a dog, honey. We're only just looking at the cats." The mother said, and my heart fell. I'd just have to try really hard to convince the mother that I'm a good "pet".

I meowed softly, shifting my fur to be puffy and soft, drawing the little girl in.

"Mommy, look at this one!" The little girl said, looking at me as she stood on her tiptoes. One of the vets that ran the clinic came in, the mother flagging her down.

"Could we look at this one?" The mother asked and I meowed.

"For sure." The vet said, opening my cage. I walked towards the vet and she grabbed hold of me.

"This kitten is fairly new, we picked her up last night after someone gave us a tip on her whereabouts." The vet told them, handing me to the mother. I purred, meowing softly in her arms, letting her do whatever to me. I knew I could easily win them over.

"What a sweet little kitten." The mother said, scratching behind my ears. I purred and the mother handed me to the daughter. As the daughter petted me, I looked over at the cat that was in the cell beneath mine. I blinked a couple times, taking him in. I now understood why he was so mad at me for hissing at the family earlier.

He was a younger black cat, with only three legs. He meowed and I reached out for him, pointing and making it obvious for the little girl to look at him. If it was the last thing I did, I would get him adopted.

"Mommy!! I like this one, but I like the black one in there!" She said, handing me to the vet to put back in the cage.

"Oh my." The mother said, and I watched as the mother fell in love with him almost instantly. The father came in and talked to the mother quietly, about not finding a nice enough dog for their daughter. The cat in the mother's hands meowed softly, pulling in the dad's attention.

"What a cute little cat." He said, scratching the black cat's head. She handed it to their daughter and she laughed as the cat played with her. The parents stepped out of the room for a minute, discussing whether or not they would get the cat. Besides, they had come here for a dog. They walked back in and watched how the little girl played along with the cat. She seemed so happy, and the mother instantly knew her decision. The father and mother exchanged glances and nodded.