A Home for Oreo

The warmth of his mother and his mewing siblings greeted the tiny black and white ball of fur into this world, along with the smell of old hay on the dirt floor and wood nearly a century old with surprisingly little rot and termites for its age. He mewed and rolled from his back onto his tummy, latching onto his mother for the sustenance of her warm milk just as his only-slightly older brother and sister had done. Once they had their fill the mews subsided as they snuggled as one into peaceful slumber.

The old barn was located on the back edge of the property owned by a middle-aged man and his teenage daughter, who shared his thoughtful blue eyes. They lived in an old, cozy little home near the middle of the property with a wooden front porch and tin roof. Both the man and his daughter loved animals, and unfortunately their pet cat had lost its battle with illness the previous year. A tiny grave was marked with an artificial pink flower in the back corner opposite the old barn.

Inside the aged outbuilding, the kittens huddled together against their mother to shelter them from the rumble and boom of thunder outside. Rain dripped down from places in the roof that had rusted through, creating small puddles on the floor of the barn. The pocket-sized black and white kitten, taken by his curiosity, left warmth of his mother and siblings and tottered on his tiny paws to the closest puddle to watch the ripples as the drops fell.

The early days of spring went by in much the same way - the little ones would sleep and nurse off their mother, then she would leave them in the shelter of the barn to run to a neighboring house and eat the food left out by the woman who lived there. While his brother and sister didn't seem to care about wandering too far from the nest, the little guy liked to go a bit further every day, exploring the inside of the barn and the interesting things in it. He let out a teensy sneeze when he pawed at the old hay, muddied himself in the small puddles, and toppled over in a feeble attempt to climb an antique rocking chair that towered over him.

As the kittens began to grow from teeny-tiny to just tiny, their mother started to stay away more and more. Itty-bitty noses sneezed as spring winds blew pollen through the gaps between aged boards in the walls, and just like the spring rains and pollen, other creatures began to make their way in through cracks, holes and crevices. A grasshopper hopped his last hop as a playful and curious paw swiped at it. Another day, a wasp flew down and the perfectly monochromatic kitten's poor little brother was left with a swollen nose, teaching him the hard way not to eat it. Most of the insects, small lizards and even slugs were relatively harmless - until one day a rat snake made it's way in through a tiny gap under the barn door. As the scaly predator slithered and flicked its tongue with a seemingly easy meal in sight, the momma cat came bounding from the same hole under the door, clawing and biting until the snake decided to look elsewhere for its dinner.

Days later, the man and his daughter came into the back yard to visit the grave of their last departed furry friend. After a few moments of silence and reminiscence, the father thought he heard something in the direction of the barn and started walking closer.

"Do you hear that?" he asked his daughter. "It sounds like something is mewing."

"I hear it now!" the daughter said excitedly as they hastened their approach to the barn door.

"Mew! Mew!" the father mewed back as he got down on one knee not far from the small opening.

"Mew!" responded the handsome, adventurous little kitten as he tottered out of the barn, right to the man who couldn't resist picking up the adorable fur ball.

"Awww! Can I hold it?" the daughter asked.

"Sure you can!" the dad smiled. "Just listen to the little one purr!"

"You can't eat this one." the daughter said, smiling back at her dad.

"What do you mean? No way would I eat him!" the dad replied.

"Well, you like to eat Oreos, but you can't eat this one!" the daughter said. "I'm naming him Oreo!"