It's Me

My name was something else but now it’s Ginger cause my woman likes that I am ginger colored and my nose is soft and cool like ginger right out of the cold box. They say that I’m about five or six weeks old but I duuno. I was born in a ditch with four brothers and one sister and my mama was abandoned there, they think, by the people who wanted her but not us. The lady at the shelter said my mama was pretty hungry and covered in fleas and ticks, but she had managed to keep us alive and herself alive, probably by eating grasshoppers. Anyway, a big man in a big truck caught us and brought us to the shelter and when we were old enough, our mama was adopted to a nice woman who wanted us too but couldn’t take all the kitties. My brothers and sisters and I went into foster care and lived with a woman named Carol. Then, one by one my siblings left to good homes but not me—I’m skittish and that makes me less premium as a pet. So, she put me in a pet store where I was on display. I didn’t like being on display cause people come and tap on the window and make faces at me. I was in my own little cubicle, but I could hear the other kitties playing and see people bringing dogs in to be groomed and I was a little scared. Also, other people came and played with the other kitties and sometimes they took them. I wanted to go, but I'm skittish, so I's pretty much left alone to play with a toy. One day an old woman came by and glanced at me and went to other kitties but she came back to me. She put her hand on the glass and I looked at it and it looked like a good hand but I still ignored her cause I am skittish. Then I heard the lady with the keys and they let the old woman in and then they took me out of my cubicle and handed me to the woman, whose name is Zelda, and she cuddled with me and I jumped out of her arms back into the cubicle, but I looked back and I think we bonded. The woman with the keys tried to get Zelda to take a friendlier kitty, and she did hold other kitties and they snuggled to her and she liked that but she kept looking at me. She asked if anyone seemed interested in that little yellow one and the key lady said no, she's not friendly. Then I heard them whisper and Zelda asked if my shelter was a kill shelter and it was and she thought a long time and said I'll take her. Anyway, she filled out papers and it took a week but finally she came back for me and put me in a new small animal carrier and brought me to her house. I was scared and ran and hid. My woman just waited. Sometimes she looked over the big box where I was hiding and gave me little bits of meat and talked quietly and clicked. I like that click and then I heard her in the big bright room with the cold box and she was putting me food in a bowl and I peeked around the corner and I saw her sitting there. I still ignored her but not the food. I think I’ll like it here. I still miss my mama and siblings but this woman, I think she might just be a good person to hang with. And there’s a fluffy man, and he isn’t allowed to be loud or walk near my bed or turn on the television until I’m ready. Hey, did I tell you that she is really fluffy too and after I make her beg for a while, I might sit in her lap and purr for her…but not too soon.