"We'll just look, do you hear me? We will not - I repeat NOT - take one home, okay?" said Steve. I nodded.
The only reason why we had come here was that we felt a little guilty. My best friend Biggie had phoned me in the morning.
"Do you know somebody who'd like to have a cat?" she had asked.
"A cat? Well... no, can't think of anybody right now. Why?"
"Because I've got these four kittens, and can't keep them any longer. I need to find good homes for them urgently. They're purebred Maine Coons, they've got papers, and had all their shots, but nobody seems to want them. I thought you might probably take one."
Me? Buy a pedigree cat when all the shelters are full of cats? Besides...
"Did you forget that I already have Paul?" I asked.
Paul was a present from my mother-in-law. The kind of present that makes you wonder if she really hates you that much. Paul was just a raven black handful of a cat, the tiniest kitten I had ever seen - but a natural talent for dog-back rodeo riding, playing tin-soccer and curtain-climbing. He had been living with us for not even a month but the house already needed some renovating, and the dogs had taken to sleeping in the bath tub, the only place where they could find some peace and quiet.
"I definitely couldn't handle two of that kind, sorry." I told Biggie. I could hear that she was disappointed, and as soon as I had put the receiver down I felt guilty. I had let my best friend down.
Steve, understanding as always, said we could visit Biggie, try to cheer her up and have a look at the kittens. "Just promise you won't buy one." That I promised. The only purebred Maine Coon I had ever seen was Duchesse, mother of the kittens, and I hadn't liked her at all.
All kittens are cute and lovely, and these four looked like fluffy little teddy bears. Still, I didn't pay too much attention, after all I hadn't come to choose one. Until Mandy, a silver tabby, slowly, carefully, silently crawled onty my lap. Reached out with one paw and gently touched my hand. Then she meowed, it sounded like "mama". And wham! - I fell in love.
Steve couldn't interfere. He was far too busy stopping Angel from chewing each and every button of his shirt. Angel wasn't the kind of cat to accept a "no", but clever enough to pretend to let go. If that human was so stubbornly insisting on keeping his buttons... that was okay with her. She liked shoe laces better anyway, and was very skilled in untying them.
"It's too bad we can't take one." I sighed.
"Yes, too bad." agreed Steve.
There was a long silence. Steve re-tied what remained of this shoe laces. Angel jumped on his lap and started to purr. Mandy still held my hand. Absolutely everybody in the room was waiting for Steve's decision, and the tension was close to unbearable.
"Well... okay! But I refuse to let them sleep on my bed!", he said firmly. I simply smiled and nodded.
When we woke up the next morning, with Mandy and Angel next to our pillows and Paul cuddled up at our feet, I knew there was nothing better than three cats to make a house a home.