Kevin the fish died. I know. I was sad, too. Luckily, Don was visiting so I delegated him to the task of giving Kevin a proper burial “at sea”.

I felt pretty badly about Kevin’s death until Don asked me how old Kevin was. I racked my brain, trying to remember exactly when Kevin had come to live with us…I know that Emma was really into watching “The Wonder Years” because that’s how the little gold fucker got his name, Kevin. I thought about it for a little while and remembered that Emma was in Senior Kindergarten when Kevin and Winnie came to stay. She is now in grade two. So that fifty cent goldfish was about three years old. Which, in fish years, is roughly the same as being one hundred and two with a breathing machine.

Guess it was just his time to go, eh?

Regardless, I felt badly and despite pleas from both of the girls and suggestions from Don, I decided that I was done with pets. Period. No more living things, furry or scaly or otherwise. Well, with the exception of spiders who happen to wander into the bathroom. That’s different. And yes, I know that some spiders are furry. I didn’t want to be responsible for yet another living thing. Single mother of three, remember? I’m plenty responsible already! And besides that, what other fish would greet me by banging his little, gold head against the side of the fish bowl? I loved that head banging little dude. I could never find another Kevin.

The girls were pissed with me as they had visions of younger, faster and cuter fish in the bowl that was once home to Kevin. They were pissed because they thought this might finally be their “in” with the whole furry issue. They were pissed because they want a pet and I was putting my foot down. Firmly. No. More. Pets.

Famous last words, eh?

Cut to Snickerdoodle.

She is a cat.

Well, I’m pretty sure it’s a she because I can’t see any balls.

She lives in my garage. Has for quite some time now. Every once in a while, I would see her hovering behind the wood pile or dashing out from under the garage while I was taking a bin of food scraps to the compost green bin. She wasn’t friendly, but not unfriendly, either. And I assumed that she was the reason I hadn’t been catching any mice under the sink in months.

I never, ever heard the thing meow.

Until Saturday.

The girls were outside playing in the snow and the cat was everywhere, meowing and whining. I went outside to check on the girls and take some recycling out and I heard the creature crying up a storm. She continued to cry all day long and when we all went outside to shovel the driveway and play around a bit, she pestered us and rubbed against us and let us all pet her. She was very friendly and meow-y. The girls loved it. Even Michael said something close to, “Oh! Kitty cat!” when he saw her.

Even I know that she was meowing because she was hungry. The mice might be underground by this point, since it is January and I’m guessing that the eating isn’t too good around here anymore. And even though I really don’t like furry things and I really didn’t want another pet, I fed her. I’m not cruel. And, * looking down at my feet *, I kind of like her. There. I said it. She drives me batshit but she has grown on me. She’s a pretty cool cat, as cats go.

So, now we have Snickerdoodle. She is fed a small amount once a day. I still want her to keep catching mice. And she is given oodles and oodles of attention a good couple of times a day, too. Michael is still exclaiming, “Oh! Kitty cat!” every time she brushes past his legs in his stroller. The girls can’t get enough of the rubbing and petting and purring and like most kids, they love when Snickerdoodle follows them around. She isn’t allowed inside, not for anything. Occasionally she scares the shit out of me when I pop outside and almost step on her on the front step. But other than that, she’s cool. She listens to me. Comes when I call her. Trots along beside when I’m doing chores outside. Too bad she can’t bang her head against the side of a fish bowl when I pass by, though.

And yes, that soft fur is kind of nice.

Just don’t tell anyone I said so, okay?