Olivia's Babies

I hadn't seen Olivia's kittens for a week. Since their birth on August 8, she's moved them several times. For a while she had kept them on the floor of the 1971 Ford truck. I'd been looking in the window a lot, so she probably decided the kittens needed privacy. One morning they were just gone.

Because of Olivia's respiratory problem, I thought that they might not make it. I didn't know how badly the yellow kitten was injured from being tangled in the after-birth that wrapped tightly around one of his hind legs. I knew that his leg could move, but I was worried that it might be a mess.

Last night, when I came back from a Valley Writers meeting in Roanoke, Olivia met me at the garage door and followed me to the kitchen door where the kittens were waiting.

"Here they are," Olivia seemed to say.

They let me pet them. The yellow is missing most of his foot, but he barely limps. It healed clean. I've had special needs cats before so if he can cope, so can I.

This morning the kittens were out and about. The two lighter ones are a bit timid, but two dark ones are especially curious. Lucy is the bolder of the two, but Chloe is loud and pushy. Lucy and Chloe are both playful.

Their mottled coats make Chloe and Lucy look like they were made from spare cat parts. Chloe's on the left. Check out her orange tail ring.


Chloe's on the bottom here.


Lucy takes time out for a snack.


When I fed Olivia, the kittens decided they could eat big kitty food, too.


Afterwards, Chloe (who'd waded in the milk) and her sister (so far unnamed) washed up . . .


. . . and posed for a picture.


OK. They're cute, but I mustn't get attached.

Mustn't get attached. . . .


Meanwhile, what do I name this one?

~