The stray black kitten, known to neighborhood kids as Silky, climbs up the screen door to peer into our living room. He begins mewing a high-pitched, pitiful cry. We look up to find Silky splayed like da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, hanging by his tiny claws. His topaz eyes beseech us to take him in. No cat’s ever done this! “He needs us,” we plead. “You can feed him outside,” Mom relents, “but he can’t come in!” We do as we’re told, but Silky’s undeterred. He knows he’s found his new home, his forever family. Only Mom doesn’t yet realize it … .
Wendy K. Mages, a professor at Mercy College, is a storyteller and educator. To learn more about her stories and her work, please visit www.mercy.edu/directory/wendy-mages.