Just as things were settling down, and we were beginning to forget the terrible traumas we’d been through, and were feeling happier in our new home with our new human servants – they started inviting strangers into the house.
I did have a vague memory of some strange humans turning up on the very first day we lived here. They included two human kittens who spent a lot of time staring up at us, where we were hiding in our Safe Place on top of the kitchen cupboards. But because Maddie and I were both so overwhelmed by everything, back then, I’d begun to think I must have dreamed it. Since then, we’d been pleased, and relieved, to spend our time alone with our new humans, making sure they were suitable for us.
And then, one day, one of them opened the front door and in came another female – much younger-looking than our one – with a male human kitten. He was old enough to walk on his back paws and meow in Human, and was nearly as tall as his mother so I presumed he was half grown. Maddie scarpered straight back on top of the cupboards but I stayed around to watch, cautiously, ready to make a dash for it if they tried to grab me. The young female hugged our older female and said ‘Happy Mothers’ Day, Mum’ – which I couldn’t even translate. The half-grown human kitten was nice and quiet and didn't seem to be a scary male. Needless to say, Maddie was scared anyway, but luckily nobody tried to talk her into coming down and being sociable. After a little while of watching these strangers, I decided they were safe enough to approach, and soon I was letting them stroke me. By the time they left, I’d even let the young female pick me up for a cuddle.
Maddie was astonished when I told her this, after they’d gone.
‘You had no idea who they were or what they might do!’ she scolded me.
‘I trusted them. I think the female was part of Sheila’s litter,’ I retorted. ‘Sheila must have had her adopted, and she’s had kittens of her own.’
After a few more days on our own with our servants, there was another visit. This time even I was scared. It was a male and female, about as old as our two, and the male had a very loud meow.
‘So where are these cats?’ he boomed as soon as the front door had closed behind him.
We were hiding in the kitchen, obviously.
‘Keep your voice down,’ his female said. ‘You’ve frightened them away!’
Female humans tend to be far more sensible than males, if you ask me. They seem to understand how we cats think.
‘Maddie, Monty, these are our friends!’ Sheila called us gently. ‘Come and say hello, Monty.’
She knew Maddie wouldn’t, of course. My shy little sister would sooner have jumped in a pond than face a scary, loud-meowing strange male. But I did trust Sheila now, and if these two were her friends, I decided I’d try to trust them too. The female friend was nice and gentle, and we were soon getting along just fine, and once the male decided to meow more quietly, he was OK too. I heard them saying they had two cats themselves – and a dog. I froze at the mention of the ‘D’ word, but as long as it wasn’t being brought into my home, that was OK.
You see? I was getting pretty good at meeting strange humans now. Maddie was going to take a bit longer. I’ll tell you more, next time, about the other human kittens we met – and about the time we had some different servants for a while. I’ve meowed for long enough now – I need another sleep.
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