As I carried in the small, see through cage, it was wobbling in my hand. I wish she would stop already. She is bouncy and jumping around, trying to get out. That’s when I felt a slight nip on my finger. Ow! Knock it off. Gosh. Once I walk through the door though, I finally get the feeling she totally ours. We got our first kitten and her name is Sassy. She is a black and grey tabby who is super silky.
“We need to let her out. She just bit my finger,” I say running through the door.
“Hang on a minute.... first we have to lay down some ground rules.”
“Awww, Mom. Come on. Can’t we have just one day of fun with the kitten before we get our second kitten?” Yes, kittens. Huge responsibilities. Not very fun at all.
“Melanie, if I let you do that, then who will care of her?”
“You?”
“No. So first you guys will have to feed them, watch her and most important, clean the litter box, EVERY DAY. Got it?”
“Yeah,” me, my sister Natalie and my brother Noah replied simultaneously. Great. This is not what I want. More responsibility since I know obviously that Natalie and Noah won’t do anything but the watching part. I was right. They both called watching. Great. Just, great.
“Finally,” I say to my mom. “Time to go get another kitten. I am so sick of Sassy sleeping with me.” Okay, so my week has been horrible. So what does Sassy do when she is lonely? Answer, sleep with me. I have gotten zero hours of sleep since we got her two days ago. But it is finally time to get her playmate.
Walking into the Human Society felt like a relief. I am going to get some peace and quiet in the night for once. So we got Ana, after picking her out a couple of days ago, and headed home. Little did I know, it was going to get a whole lot worse.
Once we got home, everything seemed to be going well. Ana began walking around immediately, and then Sassy began sniffing and following her around. She is all black and she is super smooth. After they got to know each other, it all changed in a matter of two minutes. Ana was walking around casually, when Sassy tried to play with her. She began pacing around and puffing up her fur. Suddenly she ran away. But then the smell came.
“Mel, what’s that smell?” Natalie inquired.
“I don’t.......... oh. I know. Let’s just say it isn’t a present.”
“What? I don’t get it.”
“Come look and you’ll get it. Mom! Ana went to the bathroom on the floor!”
“No wonder I smell something,” Mom said. “Why weren’t you guys watching and taking care of her? Start taking more responsibility. Especially you Melanie.”
“What did I do?”
“You weren’t being responsible.”
“But it wasn’t my fault that she.......” I just stopped my sentence because she walked away.
“Ana! Bad cat! You got me in trouble.”
Well, this is very hard. It has been two days since we got Ana and it has been a disaster. Our parents have been yelling at us, technically me, non-stop. We forget to feed the kittens, forget to clean the litter box and I am ignoring them like crazy which makes them cry constantly. Well, that isn’t the worst. Both of them have been sleeping with me! Talk about no sleep! But worst of all, we have learned a lesson that isn’t good. Hating is really easy. Loving, not so much.
“Melanie!” Mom yells, “feed the cats!!!”
“Okay, gosh. You don’t need to yell!” I hate the cats soooooooooooo much. They are making me get yelled at more than anyone else.
Well, we’re in the routine today. We haven’t forgot to do anything yet today, so now we are learning how it is done. It does require a lot of work and responsibility, and helpful siblings. But we are now better on timing our responsibilities, and that is bringing us closer together. But it’s also bringing us love. I am beginning to love the cats again.
“Melanie, did you clean the litter box?”
“Yes Mom. I already did it,” I say a little irritated. She needs to pay more attention to things.
“Don’t forget to feed them either!”
“Oh, my, gosh! I already did that too!” I say. “Geez. She needs to look for answers herself once in a while,” I mumble.
“Melanie,” she says sternly. “what did you just say?”
“Hehe, nothing,” I say cracking a grin.
Just then Sassy walks up to me and started rubbing her face against my leg. It was so cute because showed me that she really does love me, and I love them too.
So I thought that kittens were a pain in the beginning, but now I love them. They helped me learn something that nothing could easily. They taught me responsibility. Now they love me so much and we are really good at staying on schedule. Pets really help you learn responsibility. I went through it and in the beginning it was hard, but try always and you will succeed. I am glad I learned that valuable, lifelong lesson.