My cat Azzy

Once upon a time, a warm spring morning, around ten o'clock, my friend Amber from across the street came down to talk to me. She had found a litter for orphan kittens in her barn and needed to give them away before her dad or neighbor killed them. Me being a cat person, my heart broke for these little ones. When I saw them they were so small it looked like their eyes had only been open for a few days. With no mom to nurse them, we had to get them on food and water right away, which is not always easy. I told Amber I could take only one home, so she told me to pick which one I wanted. Well, I looked into the nest there was only one white and black kitten, so I told her I wanted the black and white one. She put her hand in and pulled that little one out. I asked her if she knew what the momma cat looked like. She said she was a tiger stripe tabby. So I knew the daddy had to be a black and white cat.

Before I left my friend's house, I made sure my cat was a female, because at that point we had a lot of males back at my mini farm and only a few females. I also knew we had some nursing moms among our female cats so I hoped one of our females would adopt her, which one did I don't remember.

My younger brother was thrilled that I brought another kitten home, my mom not so much. She didn't think one of our momma cats would adopt her. I told my mom I had to take her. I rescued her, without me she would have died. I don't remember what happened to her siblings. My mom was wrong about the adoption. Once she was accepted by her new mom, and my mom calmed down to the fact of a new cat, I had to name her. When I first held her I called her Jazzy, but I thought of a different name once I got her home. So I named her Asenath, which is a biblical name. We called her Azzy, unless she was in trouble which wasn't often.

I don't remember if Azzy was a year old or not when this happened, but my dad was building a shop on the farm and he had friends and family helping him. Mom and I were helping by taking out hot drinks since is was a little chilly out. My mom took coffee out to my dad since he was in the middle of something, he told her to set it down on some blocks, by this time I had rescued another kitten from a car wash where I sold corn for my friend. He was a little orange kitten named Skeeter. Anyway, so before my dad could finish what he was working on and get to his coffee, Azzy and Skeeter stuck their noses in the mug and started to drink it.

Yet, even after all those times, my favorite time with Azzy happened after I started college. Not sure if she was one or two, but I was super excited to start my next term at college and excited for more kittens, I was also on youth staff at my church. One night after coming home from youth staff, when I opened the garage door to pull my car in, I didn't see Azzy run in. See she was very determined to have those babies in my dad's shop. So the next day I went to get some notebooks, folders, and pens for my next term in college. I pulled my car into the garage and my dad came into the garage from the shop (they were connected by a door) and said I need to show you something. Azzy was always either pooping in my dad's shop or messing things up so the first words out of my mouth were "What did she do now?" My dad just pointed under his work table and there she was with three newborn kittens. All of them were black and white like momma. I named the first female Amber, after my friend, who gave me a chance to save Azzy when she got hit trying to cross the road,but I will always remember the day I came home to those three babies. My dad did kick her out when the kittens were old enough after Azzy brought a dead rabbit in.

So having her kittens in my dad's shop was how she was a little naughty. That is I will always remember that sweet girl. Sweet Azzy