Adopted

Steve had to work this afternoon after church, so I took the chance to call home and rest a bit.
Not long after he arrived home, and we sat down on the couch together, did we hear a small noise at our door:

"Meow"

Now, I'm certain at first I thought it was just the computer noise, etc., or something in the house, but as we muted everything, it came again, loud and clear.

"Meow"

I opened our inner door, and there sat a black and white mottled cat, meowing ever quietly, and pawing at the screen door. He had only half of a tail, but would wave it happily despite.

A sucker for cats and other helpless creatures, I of course got it some meat from our fridge and sat down next to it. The cat proved incredibly affectionate...and cold. It kept attempting to curl up against my legs, arms, etc., and purr as loudly as it could. Steve was also quickly enamored by our adoptee, and we named him Smudge after the black smudge across his nose. Steve wanted to name him Spot, after his Star Trek leanings, but I declared he didn't seem much like a Spot, as he was far too mischeivious and seemed to want to get into everything.

If we were in an apartment that allowed animals, we would have adopted him quickly, I'm sure. All parties involved seemed to quickly develop a repertoire of affection for each other, and Smudge was soon walking beside either of us as we paced the grass near the apartment attempting to develop some plan of what to do with our little master. We decided to give him a box to keep him out of the wind, and see if he was still there later (hoping he'd go back "home" so we did not have to make such decisions). As we began packing the car for college group, Steve declared our little friend to me gone, and rejoiced that he would be going elsewhere for the night, until Smudge announced his presence again by leaping into the trunk of our car. He was quite smug about this attempt at smuggling himself to wherever we were going, but it was not to be allowed. We wrapped Smudge up in one of the old towels from the trunk, and placed him in "his" box by our door. He was reluctant, but we finally managed to keep him in the box as we left for church.

When we returned, Smudge was standing proudly on top of Steve's car, and quickly leapt down to greet us, resulting in Steve having to round him up so as not to have my car hit him. After convincing him to stay outside of the apartment, we settled down for the evening.

Since then, we haven't seen him waiting outside of our door, but we half hope he finds another home. Otherwise, I will making a trip to drop him off at our local shelter.

If only we had met at another time and place, Smudge.