Chapter Eleven: Hope

Monday, June 27, 1910

Sarafina was enjoying a cool afternoon breeze curled up on Paula's lap. She was dreaming of her kittens and wondering how they were managing their new homes. Paula was reading a book and enjoying the scent of rose in front of her porch.

Suddenly, Sarafina was startled from her dream. She looked around quite anxiously.

Paula rubbed her. "What is it?"

Sarafina stretched and then focused on the long and winding road. Paula looked too, half a minute later; both could see a little animal bounding down the gravel trail.

Sarafina looked to Paula and meowed, "What should I do?"

Since Paula was not smart enough to speak Cat, she replied with a smile and a pat on her head. Sarafina remained in Paula's lap, refusing to surrender her comfortable position until it was absolutely necessary.

Soon, Paula too could see a black, white and gold calico kitten walking in the front yard. It went directly up to Paula and Sarafina and meowed, "I'm back."

Sarafina turned to Paula, both had their heads tilted. "Sarafina? Isn't that one of your kittens?"

Sarafina looked down. "Hope, what are you doing here?"

"I'm home, mommy, I'm home. I can be your kitten again."

Sarafina made a disgruntled sound and reluctantly jumped down from Paula's lap. She went over to Hope and hissed at her. "This is my house. You are not my kitten any more."

Hope tilted her head. "Yes. I am! You are my mommy and I am your kitten."

Sarafina shook her head, she turned to Paula and meowed, "How would you handle this?"

Paula shrugged.

"Hope, sweetheart, you were my kitten but now you are someone else's cat. You grew up, and, like your sisters, you have a new home of your own. You have humans to domesticate and train to service your needs. You have a territory to defend. You have a post to keep and survey your land and all of that you do at some place other than here. Do you understand?"

Hope looked around. "No."

Sarafina tried hissing again. "Scat!"

Hope sat down.

Sarafina became more frustrated with her. "Hope, why'd you run away from your new home?"

Hope tried to fiddle with a little pink hat on her head.

"Does this have something to do with the pink hat?"

"Yeah. I was the last one to get a home."

"I know. I smell their greetings from time to time. Charity is living with a friend of Sarah's named Lynn and Faith is with a nurse, she helps sick humans. Didn't you find a good home? I remember seeing you in the box outside of the hardware store. A human family with a little girl came up and played with you. Didn't you go home with them?"

"I did. I made friends with a little girl named Jamie. I told her that she would be my personal servant, just like you said, and she did care for me. I slept in her bed and purred when there was that big thunderstorm last week."

"So what was the problem?"

"Well, it was fun visiting her, but, that's not my home."

"Hope, did you mark the house?"

"Yes."

"Did you mark the humans so other cats would know to whom they belong?"

"Yes, I did everything you said."

"What gift did you bring them?"

"A field mouse. I left it in the middle of the kitchen just like you showed us."

"And did the lady of the house scream and do a happy dance?"

"She did, she seemed very pleased with my kill."

"That's good. Who else is in the family? Are there any other cats?"

"No other cats, just humans. Jamie's mother, father and sisters, they're all older than her."

"Are the humans obeying your commands?"

"All of them, they fed me, they let me go outside to do my business, they went to sleep when I told them to, they've been very obedient. There is a Collie dog next door. I slapped him on the nose twice so he no longer bothers me. They have a big yard with several trees. There are two mockingbirds building a nest in one of the trees. I can't wait until the babies are ripe and crunchy."

Hope turned her attention to cleaning her tail.

Sarafina was confused. "Then what's the problem?"

Hope stopped grooming and looked away to gather her thoughts. "Mommy, it isn't home."

Sarafina scratched her ears and then yawned. "Hope, what is home?"

Hope sat down and tucked her paws beneath her body. "Home is where you grew up."

Sarafina shook her head. "No it's not. My sister, your aunt Bell and I grew up in an alley way in River City and that's a long, long way from here. My mother had several sets of kittens. What would've happened if all of my mother's kittens had never moved?"

Hope thought for a moment. "Then, it'd be crowded with grown up cats."

"It sure would. Cats would be stacked up on each other constantly fighting over territory and scraps of food."

"That wouldn't be fun."

"It sure wouldn't. But, my mother made sure, that every new batch of kittens found homes of their own. She taught us how to find available humans, where to go to find the right houses, and, eventually, how to establish territory of our own. And, I taught you all of those same things, remember?"

Hope hemmed and hawed: "Well, yeah. I liked being a kitten. I had fun wrestling with my sisters. I enjoyed sleeping on the giant and having her pet me and give me ham. Do you remember when you caught the bird and bit its neck and then Faith, Charity and I killed it?"

Sarafina licked Hope's forehead. "Of course I remember that, but, why would I show you how to catch a bird and live with humans and defend territory?"

"Because you have to?"

"No, because I knew that someday you'd have a house of your own and you'd need all of those skills. Being the mother of a kitten is not all fun and games, it's a lot of work. I had to stay awake almost eight hours a day!"

"Wow!"

"That's right; I forfeited the greatest thing a cat can own, simply to be with you, I gave up nap time. And, I did this because I love you and I wanted to see you be happy. And, it sounds like to me that you were happy in your new house. So, what happened?"

"Well," Hope flapped a fly from her back with her tail. "Your human, Sarah, is a grown up, but my human, Jamie is tiny. She's a human kitten. I've tried to play with her. The other day I moved little pieces of furniture from her doll house and put them in a pile in her room. She thought that was clever.

Yesterday, she wanted to go outside. She had a little table set up with four tiny chairs. She said we could have a tea party. She put on a pink dress. She put cookies on the table and a glass of tea. She gave me a cup of milk and put a bit of tuna on a saucer. I was happy, but then, she gave me this hat.

I didn't ask for the hat, mother. I don't like it. It looks silly. I tried to get it off. I jumped on the ground and contorted in all kinds of ways. The more I twisted the angrier I became.

I growled, 'Get it off of me! Get it off of me!' Jamie reached down to my neck. I couldn't tell what she was doing and I accidentally bit her hand.

She screamed and kicked at me, 'I hate you kitty! I hate you!' and she ran inside her house.

Well, I was afraid, I thought I'd killed her or something, so, I ran away. I spent last night in a tree near the creek. I caught a lizard and ate it, but, that wasn't enough food. So, I ran back to the one place I knew where I'd be welcomed."

Sarafina shook her head. "You are not welcomed here."

Hope collapsed her shoulders. "But isn't this my home?"

"No, that other place is your home. Jamie is your human like Sarah is my human. You need to go back to the house. The little girl is probably terribly upset and misses you."

Hope cleaned her eyes. "I don't know, maybe."

"Humans, unlike cats, are imperfect beings. They sometimes say things they don't actually mean. Did you mean to bite your human?"

"No, she's small, like me, I would never hurt her."

"Humans are clever. They can build houses and keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And do you know why they do this?"

"To make cats happy?"

"That's right, Hope. Humans have many responsibilities and pressures. All of these can accumulate and they can be inconsiderate without ever intending to do so.

Sarah is a good human. Her mother, Paula, is a good human. But, sometimes, they fight over the most trivial of matters. Part of my responsibility is to jump on Sarah's lap and purr so she calms down and eventually forgets whatever it is that was bothering her."

"Can't I just have fun without responsibility?"

"No, Hope, you can't. What kind of world would that be? Humans would wander around aimlessly trying to fill up the emptiness of a cat-less house. They would work and work and work but have no one to talk to when they got home. Their little ones would not be in their houses; they'd be gone all the time. Humans would say 'I love you' but, unlike cats, they would have no way of demonstrating it through affection. But, because humans are responsible, we can rub their legs and make sure they know they are an important member of our family. We own them; thus, they are happy."

Hope rolled over to scratch her back. "So, I should go back?"

"Of course you should dear, it's where you belong."

Hope looked around. "I don't know where I live."

Sarafina tilted her head. "Didn't you mark things along the way?"

"I tried, but, every time I would mark a tree or something, another cat would be there and hiss at me for invading their territory. They did not understand that I was just passing through."

Sarafina stretched and said, "Yeah, I can see how they'd think that."

"So how do I get home?"

"If you have a nearly impossible task or, if you just don't feel like doing something, tell a human to do it for you."

"Hurray."

Sarafina and Hope went over to Paula. Paula smiled.

Sarafina meowed in a whiny, sing-songy tone.

Paula made a sad face to her. "You miss Sarah too?"

Sarafina meowed again.

Paula tilted her head. "I have to go to the bakery. Would you like to come along?"

Sarafina and Hope jumped up in the wagon.

Paula looked at them; "You want to go right now?"

They both meowed at her.

Paula chuckled, "Ok, let's go see Sarah."

She stepped into the wagon and they rode off. Within a matter of minutes they were downtown. Paula petted Sarafina and said, "Wait in the wagon."

Sarafina and Hope sat down.

Sarafina's ear's twitched, she looked up in the window of Emily's room, it was Bell.

"Sarafina?"

"Bell, how are you?"

"I can't complain. My human, Emily, is taking care of all of my needs. I sleep a lot, look after the bakery, that's pretty much it for my life. One of my humans is pregnant, the lady is going to have a small one some time in winter. I do not approve of this, but it seems to make them happy."

Hope looked at her and meowed, "Hello, Aunt Bell."

Bell cocked her head and looked at her. "A human came by yesterday. She was very small. She was upset, which means, she could not find her kitten."

Sarafina looked to Hope. "See?"

That made Hope sad. "Aunt Bell, where'd she go?"

"I don't know."

Hope and Sarafina stayed in the wagon and looked all around. Sarah soon came out of the bakery. Paula was with Jean carrying a small paper bag. Jean said, "And then he says, 'I want to talk to you about selling raffle tickets to fix up the baseball diamond.'"

Paula gasped. "No? That's the important matter Julius wanted to discuss?"

Jean nodded. "Yup."

"I would've…."

"She wanted to believe me, but, well you know how she pines for him."

Paula huffed. "Men!"

Sarah was excited to see Sarafina.

Hope greeted her as well and sniffed her fingers.

Sarah looked at her. "Why are you wearing a silly pink hat?"

Hope tried once more to get it off but was unsuccessful.

"Hey, wait a second. A little girl came by here yesterday looking for a kitten in a pink hat."

Just then, Hope recognized a picture Jamie had drawn of her. It was in the window of the bakery. She rushed over and began clawing on the window.

Sarah looked at it. "The kitty in that picture's also wearing a hat."

Paula asked, "Do you think it's the same one?"

Sarah shrugged. "I would think so."

Hope began meowing and being restless.

"And there's a name in the corner, Jamie. I wonder if… mother, that's it. Jamie Fulbright was the little girl looking for her kitten. Yes, she lives on Dover Lane."

Sarafina and Hope jumped back in the wagon.

Paula's eyes bulged.

Sarah laughed. "I think that means they want to go too."

Paula tapped on the horses reins and the wagon took off towards Dover lane. There were only a few houses on the street. One of them had a little girl sitting on the front porch steps, she looked sad.

Paula said, "Well, is this it?"

Hope looked over. "Jamie's crying."

Sarafina nudged her. "Go to her and stop her from crying."

Hope touched noses with her mother. She jumped down from the wagon and scampered over to Jamie.

Jamie's eyes brightened. "Kitty! Kitty! My kitty's back!"

Hope jumped in her lap.

Paula and Sarafina looked at each other. "Come on Sarafina; let's go home."

Hope (Kitty) lay on her human's lap and purred as she was petted. "I'm home, Jamie, I'm home."