Tiny

For Photo Friday.

I realise that the quality is terrible, but she was the first thing I thought of when I saw this week's challenge. I can't remember how long ago this was; I'm guessing two or three years. She's so small that she fit right into the palm of my hand. For someone so tiny, she had huge, beautiful eyes that made you melt whenever you looked into them.

It was after a huge downpour. My brother and a couple of neighbours found her cold and drenched, underneath a car. I'm not sure why they decided to solicit my help, but once I saw the kitten, I couldn't help but fall in love. Long story short, we got her some milk, dried her off, and kept her warm until she could at least move her limbs (which had been frozen stiff).

Crescent (they let me name her) stayed in our garden for a couple of hours, but we knew we couldn't keep her, because Rocky's afraid of cats. For the next week, the neighbours took turns to take care of her, but none of their parents approved of keeping her. We reasoned, too, that her mother might be looking for her, and that she'd be better off under her mom's care. We brought her back to where we'd found her, and it was a while before we could leave her without her attempting to follow us home. Every day after that, for a couple of months, we laid out a dish of milk in the area. We stopped when, for a few days, we saw that it remained untouched.

We had a lot of fun. The kids were all giggly, and they squealed whenever she wiggled in their arms. Come to think of it, I haven't met a child who didn't love animals.

I still see her around; she's a big girl now. (Well, I'm not sure that she's a girl at all, really.) I wish she'd jump onto my lap or something -- something to tell me she remembers. And I wish I could tell her that I remember -- that if things were different, she'd be sleeping in my bed every night, away from the onslaughts of ill weather.

[Edit: This is a great Photo Friday entry: World's Smallest Claddagh Ring! :)]