Matchmaking with Kitties

"Are you the person with ad for the kitties?" the woman's voice would ask. For a month or more the phone had rang in response to ads I had placed. Many good-hearted women had called seeking the perfect companion.

I felt like I was running a dating service.

In a way I was playing matchmaker. It was more than finding random homes for my brother's surplus cats. It was finding the right home with the right person.

For Leonard I talked up his good looks as well as personality. His handsome white mustache curled across his face like a smile. His white flecks on the dark fur around his eyes gave him that English professor look as if should have been wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches. He led an active life and enjoyed friends.

Leonard was matched with a 30 something nurse and an orange long-hair named Butter. It was a sad story. Nurse Rachel had taken in Butter and his brother Scotch, after their owner had passed away. Scotch never recovered from the loss. He had passed away, refusing to eat after his owner had died and the move to a new home. Leonard was to be Butter's new friend. When I met Nurse Rachel she exploded with happiness upon seeing Leonard. He seemed pleased with her as well.

Jessica's ad received the most attention. Everyone seemed to want the little lady with long gray hair. She was a beauty. Her soft gray hair framed her small face and big gold eyes. The large white patch stood out like a diamond pendant on her chest. She loved to sit by the open window and feel the breeze on her face and watch the sunlight on the leaves.

Jessica was a quiet lady who like personal attention. She had grown used to living with only other felines and my bachelor brother. I eliminated most of the prospective matches. Dogs and small children would not do well for her.

I had hoped to place her with a particular elderly lady who had recently lost her little friend to old age. Unfortunately an allergic son-in-law coming to stay and other factors caused the match to fall through. But remarkably I quickly received a call from a lady wishing to give her father a kitty for Father's Day. His cat had recently passed away. His daughter could see he was sad and lonely and wanted to give him a new friend.

Happily Jessica was welcomed into his home. It was an ideal match for Jessica. She went from quiet home with a older bachelor to another quiet home with a older bachelor. She went from many cats sharing small quarters to being a lavished only child. It was a good Father's Day for both of them.

The two cats remaining with my brother enjoy the extra attention and space they now have. I gave up my job of feline matchmaker and have returned to being a mom and writer and caretaker of our own pets.