Step mom

She stepped into the magical terrace of sixty odd cats near my office, where my sanity and good humour wait for me when life seems slippery with sleaze. There were only two new moms I was sure – a grey and white squinty mom with four kittens and a shimmering tortoise shell cat with mustard, orange and radish paintwork on her fur.

But this new mom was a tubby angel of egg white and ginger fur – with two kittens snoozing on her fat chest. I wondered how I had not seen her before. Maybe I was getting really very forgetful and ancient I thought glumly. The new mom blinked at me and at once I felt better. Cats blink when they are petting you.  

I always saw the new mom cuddling a different kitten daily. Even more astounding, the kittens cuddled her too. She was baby sitting the grey and white kitten (who already had her own mom) and a ginger white one which seemed like her own, and then several lemon yellow kittens who seemed to be motherless! All of them were enjoying huddling against her fat warmth. Step Mom seemed to be mothering the babies of Squinty and the Stunning Tortoise who often ran away from their brood! The mystery was revealed one day when the man who cared for them told me that Step Mom, was a Tom Cat!

He was awesome, because on a rainy evening when two stray sick kittens came in from the street he immediately began to mother them.  And when I laughed uproariously at this magical, mystical, adorable male cat playing mom, he did not even get angry. Cats don’t like to be laughed at and either waddle off or glare at you.

But  Step Mom gave me a rub and a quick clean up with his paw! Some of the grime and gruesomeness of my own problems must have stuck on my arm and needed a quick wash he seemed to say!

Last week a miserable yellow cat sick with fever jumped up onto the ledge on which Step
Mom sat and he immediately began to lick and clean up her fur.  The tenderness on his fat face was so amazing it was hard not to believe that the god of small things was definitely living on that terrace of sixty odd furry angels.

There really was no need to worry about the bandicoots or vampires that invade our gardens. Perhaps all they needed was a quick wash and cuddle from Step Mom!