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“You have a friend…” he whispered softly, smiling tenderly at her.
Reyna looked to where he pointed – and peered in the vent of the floor, only to see two bright blue eyes staring back at her… and heard a hiss.
There was a kitten in the floor vent of her bedroom!
Her eyes widened in shock and alarm as she glanced back at Kyle. Her lip trembled as her eyes began to water. How had a kitten gotten in the duct work under the house… and how long had he been there?
“Can you save him?” she asked tremulously. “I bet the poor baby is scared.”
“Yeah, sweetie… I can,” he smiled softly at her, leaning forward to brush a kiss on her forehead. “Do you have a butter knife or a flathead screwdriver?”
“Yes… oh my goodness,” she whispered, getting to her feet and trembling as she realized what was going on – and what the noise had been. She heard something a few days ago and brushed it off, but now she wondered if the poor baby was starved, thirsty, or…
“Reyna,” Kyle said, coming up behind her – and hugging her again. “Why don’t you make some coffee and I’ll fish out the kitten. Once the sun is up, I’ll get under the house and see how your little monster got in the duct work.”
“Don’t hurt him…”
“I won’t, but don’t get attached either,” he said cautiously. “The animal could have rabies or be feral…”
“Or he could be a sweetheart, hungry, scared, and in need of some loving,” she countered nervously, handing him a butter knife, hearing Kyle chuckle again.
“Or all of that…” he smiled at her. “You have a good heart, you know that?”
“Are you hungry? I’m going to get something simple for the fur baby to eat…”
“One thing at a time,” he instructed, his eyes dancing. “Let’s free the little monster from his prison, then have a cup of coffee to wake up, before deciding if we need to call animal control.”
“Why?”
“Reyna – we don’t know if he’s sick…”
“He’s not,” she said stubbornly, looking at Kyle – who smiled indulgently at her. “Don’t give me that look like you are humoring me. We’re on a rescue mission, remember?”
“I remember,” he laughed openly, before turning to return to her room with the butter knife.
Fascinated, she heard him talking softly to the hissing animal as he removed the screws from the vent cover and slowly removed it… only to hear a faint mew that broke her heart.
Kneeling beside Kyle, she watched him send his hand down the duct as he flinched a few times, before his hand emerged holding a very frightened, angry, spitting orange kitten.
“Ohhhmygoodnessssss…” she crooned softly, reaching for the filthy kitten as tears ran down her cheeks, unnoticed. “Come here, you sweet thing…”
“Let’s hope that little vampire doesn’t have rabies, because he bit me several times,” Kyle muttered, but his gaze was full of emotion, betraying the angry words as he sat there beside her on the floor.
“Don’t you listen to Daddy, little one…” she whispered, smoothing down the matted fur, smiling at Kyle. “Mama has some warm milk for you and a can of chicken chunks for you to eat until we can go to the store later.”
“You’re keeping ‘vent cat’?”
“Of course, I am…”
“Will you at least get him checked out? He might have worms or some sickness…”
“Yes,” she promised, smiling at him. “I can’t believe there was a kitten thumping around in there.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t something else,” he admitted. “I was kind of worried there was a raccoon, possum, or possibly a snake when you said it hissed.”
“What are we going to call him?”
“Stringy? Cujo? Parvo? Zombie? The cat looks half-starved and…”
