Kitty "Duties"

My then husband was not as keen on pets as I was. I had been raised with a houseful, and felt they were a part of making a house a home. They did not just add to our family...to me, they were family. He was pretty patient, however, cats were something he found to be a "non negotiable"... So oneday, I brought one home as a gift to our daughter. I mean, it was her birthday! I adopted it at the fleamarket, and hid it in her closet in a tiny basket, lined with baby blankets. "Hurry Heidi", I said. "I hear something in your closet!" And so there she would come to find the most pathetic, scrappy, little black kitten you have ever seen in your life. She was ecstatic! He was pissed! Wouldn't talk to me for days. " It doesn't have anywhere to s#%*!", he would complain. But he couldn't really bring himself to make her get rid of it. Threats followed. "It better have a litter box!" he said one evening after work. He had put his foot down. "That damn cat better find somewhere to do it's "duties" in!" His words to God's ears... And so it would go, and this poem would come to life...

Kitty Duties

Remember Dad, you told us

that the kitten couldn't stay,

unless it had a litter box

to "duty" in today?

We love you for your kindness,

and we've found the perfect place...

Our kitty likes to "duty"

in your open leather case!

As memory recalls, it wasn't the best of nights. But "Cleopatra" eventually would become a family member, loved by all... well, almost all. ;)