The Cat Who Spent Nine Lives Saving Me Chapter 11
Sunny stood between us while Domino arched his back and hissed. At last, my mother dragged her injured leg out the door.
I hung up the CLOSED sign, pulled the curtains tight, and curled into the corner of my bedroom.
Why would a mother not love her daughter?
Why could family be crueler than strangers?
I couldn’t stop shaking. Domino slowly licked away my tears.
[Mom, Cat will always protect you.]
Sunny nudged my knee with his nose.
[Don’t be afraid. I failed to protect Eleanor last time. I won’t fail this time.]
After Nolan was born, I went from being their daughter to being “the older sister who should take responsibility.” The dinner table held only the food he liked. There was no room in the house that belonged to me. Every time my mother called, it was to demand payment for another bill.
But to my cat and dog, I was their whole world.
That night, a high fever set in, and my childhood memories dragged me under once more.
The winter before Nolan was born, I found a newborn tabby kitten in the trailer park. Every day, I saved chicken from my school lunch and secretly fed it.
Pregnant with her son, my mother repeatedly told me that every dollar in our house should be saved for my brother. If I took one extra apple, she could berate me for half an hour.
With a blizzard approaching, I hid the kitten in a cardboard box in my bedroom. My father worked at the factory during the day, and every Wednesday my mother went into town to play cards. I thought no one would find out.
Every night, the kitten crawled beneath my old blanket and pressed itself against my shivering body. My mother only allowed heat in her own bedroom, but with the kitten beside me, that winter somehow didn’t feel as cold.
Then one day, I came home from school and found the box empty.