I glanced around my neat living room wondering where Tammie’s gray kittens were. I hadn’t seen them for hours. Worried, I called for them. Suddenly, one of the kittens popped her head out from under my sofa. Surprised, I questioned, “How are you doing that? The opening under the sofa is smaller than your head!” The kitten wriggled out and then the second kitten peeped out at me and sneezed.

One thing Tammie had missed and desired all through her four years of college and two years of grad school, was a kitty for a pet. Since she lived in dorms all those years, this was never possible. Dorm pet policies generally say something along the lines of, “If you want a pet, it has to be able to live underwater.”

Shortly before Tammie graduated from grad school, a stray cat living in Niki and Mike’s backyard gave birth to a litter of kittens. The surprise delivery took place on their back deck during cold, inclement spring weather. Niki felt compelled to take the mother and babies into her house. Her young children loved the unexpected fuzzy play mates and immediately named them based on food and random names they heard.

Having secured a job and apartment to live in immediately following graduation, Tammie asked her sister if she could adopt two kittens from the rescued litter. Although her children protested, Niki didn’t want to keep all six kittens.

Tammie picked a pale gray tabby named Carla, and an orange tuxedo kitten named Macaroni and Cheese. They were wonderful companions for Tammie for the next 16 years. Carla was the first to pass away. After grieving for several months, Tammie went to a Humane Society Shelter and picked out a two-year-old gray and white cat. This kitty had a white bib, paws, and star on her nose, which made us think of the song, “Lucy with Diamonds in the Sky”. Although she was very friendly with humans, we were told Lucy didn’t like other cats, but to our surprise and delight, she peacefully coexisted with Mac until he died a year later.

While visiting me this past Thanksgiving, Tammie wistfully commented, “I liked having two cats. I’m ready to visit the Humane Society Shelter again.” We visited the shelter the day before she had to return to Saint Paul. We were told the shelter was offering a sale of two adoptions for the price of one that week. Tammie asked me, “One kitten would get lonely because Lucy doesn’t like other cats. Is my small house big enough for three cats?”

A friendly gray tuxedo mother cat and a few of her kittens were housed at the shelter when we visited. Tammie picked out a mostly gray kitten that she named Sophie, after a character in a favorite movie. She named its sibling, a gray kitten with a white bib and paws, Tressie, after one of my aunts.

As the adoption papers were being prepared, Tammie decided, “I’m going to leave the kittens with you. It doesn’t make sense to stress them out with a three-hour drive tomorrow, and then again in two weeks for my longer visit home for Christmas. I’ll take them home with me in January.”

At first, I seldom saw the kittens. They came out to eat, drink water and use the litter pan, but for the rest of the time they hid under furniture I thought too small to contain them. Slowly, they began to interact with me but continued to have a penchant for visiting tight spaces.

When Tammie arrived for her Christmas holiday visit, her cat Lucy didn’t seem to mind having the kittens around. We expected to hear a lot of hissing and growling. Instead, she studied them and didn’t hiss or growl unless they came too close. I noticed that she seemed to watch them play as though she was enjoying their silly jumps, pounces and tail chasing. Perhaps it made her think of her own kittenhood and lost litter mates, or maybe she wished she could play with them.

One day shortly before Tammie had to return to Saint Paul, we were playing with the kittens. After crawling out from under a cabinet to chase a feather wand, Tressie sneezed a few times. I said, “You wouldn’t have to sneeze so much if you stopped cleaning the dust bunnies out from under my furniture.”

Tammie laughed, “Tressie and Sophie actually look like little gray dust bunnies!”