Newest addition to the family

We have a new addition to our family: a kitten named Lucky.

We were heading home from Grand Forks on Saturday evening. I pulled up to the junction of highways 17 and 75. As we crossed 75, Kristie and I both noticed a small form huddled near the side of the road. Its eyes glared in our headlights as we neared it. I slowed and saw that it was a small kitten. Since I’m an unabashed animal lover, I stopped without hesitation. What amazed me (and is one of the million reasons I love her so much) was that Kristie hopped out before our Trailblazer came to a full halt. The kitten practically jumped into her arms. Before any of us knew it, we had ourselves a third pet.

So Lucky, as Koko has named him, has fit right in with us. Our other cat, Einstein, is not too fond of him yet, but it’s getting better. He has gone from hissing at him whenever he sees him to hissing at Lucky only ever other time he sees him. Our dog, Kozy, fell in love immediately, licking every square inch of the poor kitten when we first brought him in.

This morning before I showered, I fed both Lucky and Einstein. After my shower I noticed that Einstein was actually ‘playing’ with Lucky. They traded bites and slaps. Finally, Einstein had enough and bolted for the basement. That was when I went up stairs to get dressed. When I returned to the basement (I forgot my shirt), I noticed that the kitten was nowhere to be found. Einstein was sitting on the top of the basement steps looking down at a large cement cistern we have in our basement. I didn’t think anything of this as I began to look for the kitten.

With Kristie and Koko up, we began to scour the house. No luck nor no Lucky.

On a whim, I grabbed a flashlight and peeked into the cistern. Sure enough, huddled in one corner was Lucky, who gave a slight “meow” when he saw me looking down at him. He must have crawled from the basement step across a beam and onto the cement ledge. Then either he slipped in or Einstein pushed him. Since I was dressed for school, I had to wake Casey up to scale into the cistern, whose walls are about six feet high, and retrieve the poor kitty.

As I left, Casey was climbing back out and Lucky was cradled in Kristie’s arms after his near entombment and Einstein was glaring at me, having foiled his Montresor-esque plan. I wonder what he has brewing in that sinister mind of his now . . . I better keep an eye on the microwave.