Arya giggles and soon we’re all laughing as we pull into the driveway. It takes all of us to unload the truck, then we spend the next forty-five minutes getting the tank set up, the litter boxes ensconced in the laundry/mud room for the three cats, and the guinea pig cage put together. With each task, we take the time to show the kids what we’re doing and remind them what needs to be done. Since Prissy is older than the two little scamps Arya got, I set her stuff up in our bathroom. There’ll be time enough to watch them and get them properly introduced once we’re home and can keep an eye on things.
“Thad, just keep them like this,” Dex says, as he ensures the bag with the fish is bobbing in the water he put in the tank. “Once it’s fully up to temperature and they’ve adjusted, we’ll let them out,okay?” Thad nods as he stares, entranced, at the tank with its colorful rocks and plants on the bottom of the tank. “Arya, once we get back from doing the rest of the running, I’ll put the cat tree together, alright?”
“Okay, Dex. Thank you. I’ll just play with them with these,” she replies, rolling the little jingle balls around. She giggles as the kittens pounce on the balls, then they crash into each other, rolling around on the floor.
“Are they going with us to Costco?” I ask.
He snickers while shaking his head. “Just you and me, sweetheart. Y’all, we’re having pizza tonight since Abuela and Nonna have their hands full. Once you girls have your pets settled in, I want you to see what you can do to help them, you hear me?” They nod their heads letting him know they heard him but otherwise, keep their attention glued to their furry friends.
“What about me?” Thad questions. “What do you want me to do?”
I watch Dex ruffle his brother’s hair as he says, “I’m sure you can help them out by bringing up the pots they use for their canning, then the jars.”
Thad’s chest puffs out and he nods. “I’ll go do that now since my fish are chilling out.”
As I gather the trash from everything that’s been opened, I look and see that Arya’s two kittens have passed out in a puddle of purring fur. “Look at them, Arya,” I whisper, pulling out my phone and taking a picture.
“They’re so cute,” she quietly squeals. “I’ll go help in the kitchen.”
Nodding, I head to our room to check on Prissy only to come up short once I cross the threshold of the doorway. She’s curled up on my pillow, her paw over her eyes and while I know she’s asleep, I can tell from how her sides are moving that she’s purring. Walking over, I lean down and nuzzle against her soft, plushy fur and murmur, “You’re home, pretty girl.” A soft ‘meow’ comes from her, but she never opens her eyes.
I guess she realizes she’s safe once again. While I know animals don’t think like we do, I can only imagine how she must’ve felt when her owner went into the hospital and then never came home. The family decided they didn’t want the bother of keeping her so they took her to the shelter, where she stayed for nearly two months until a local rescue, realizing she was a senior, took her in, got her up to date on her vaccines, then placed her at the pet store so she could hopefully be adopted.
After a quick trip to the bathroom where I notice she’s already eaten some of the dry food I put down, I fix my ponytail, then head back downstairs, ready to shop until I drop at my favorite home improvement store, as well as Costco.
“Okay, I’m shopped out,” I murmur as I faceplant into the mattress while Dex stands in the doorway laughing at me. “It’s not funny,” I mumble as I feel a soft furry body come up next to me. “Prissy, your motor sure is loud,” I say as I reach out and lightly stroke her wiggling body. “Mama’s home.” She licks my forehead then lays down at my shoulder, purring so loudly I miss what Dex is saying. “Can you repeat that?”
He chuckles then says, “I’m rather impressed actually. Who knew having a wife who was so organized would be beneficial to our shopping.”
I carefully flop onto my back so I don’t dislodge Prissy who decides to snuggle closer, her little cold nose now buried in my neck. “It makes sense to have a list, Dex. That way, you don’t forget anything you wanted to get, but it also gives you the chance to get extra stuff you see that you didn’t know you needed.”
He barely manages to keep from rolling his eyes as he starts putting together a second cat tree that he bought for our room for Prissy. Thad’s fish are now happily swimming in their new glass home while Arya has one of the many cat beds we bought today nestled at the end of her bed. Everyone’s been fed, the kids have all had their showers, and we finally shooed the grandmothers to their apartment rooms once we helped them take care of what they’ve already managed to can today. I swear, they’ve got more energy than all three of the kids combined because they have most of it done and ready to store. They would’ve finished, too, but they ran out of Mason jars, which they called to add onto our Costco list.
He flops onto the bed as well, then turns so he’s facing me. “As soon as I can feel my feet again, I’ll run a bath for you because I know we did a lot more walking than you usually do.”
A light blush covers my face as I nod. His kindness knows no bounds and has something weird happening inside of me. He doesn’t treat me like I’m less than or disabled, but he must have realized that all the walking has my thigh throbbing in agony since I’m limping far more than usual. I think I need to go see my orthopedist because I suspect I might need a new orthotic for my shoe since it’s been a few years with this one. “Thanks,” Ireply. “Normally, it’s not too bad, but today was excessive, even for me.”
“The good news is, I’ll be the one working tomorrow since I plan to till up the garden and get it ready to plant the seeds we bought. Did we really need five different types of tomatoes?”
“Bite your tongue! Yourgrandmotherswere the ones who told me what to write down. I know Abuela uses both Roma and tomatillo, while Nonna uses San Marzano and sometimes Roma, and we need cherry tomatoes for salads, as well as beefsteak tomatoes for sandwiches!”
“I like seeing you riled up like this,” he murmurs, almost as if to himself. “This isn’t getting your bath run so let me see to that.”
I smile as he gets up and heads into the ensuite, then when I hear the water start, I look at Prissy and say, “That man is gonna be trouble for me, my girl. But don’t you worry, I’ll be here for you no matter what.”
When he comes out with a grin on his face, I realize my slight reprieve is over and groaning, I get up from the bed and shuffle my way into the bathroom, with Prissy dutifully following along behind me. “Enjoy your soak. I’m going to check the house one last time to make sure everything is locked up then I’ll be back up. We can watch a movie if you want.”
I mumble something unintelligible then say out loud, “Sounds good to me!” Once the bedroom door closes, I strip out of my clothes, toss them into the hamper, then after turning off the water, climb into the huge tub. “Oh, my God,” I exclaim as I feel the jets pulsating below the surface. He apparently added some of my lavender Epsom salts for my sore, abused muscles and Igroan as I lean back to let the heat and jacuzzi jets work their magic on my overworked leg.
A soft ‘meow’ and slight thump has me opening my eyes to see Prissy on the wide end of the tub staring down at the water. She reaches her paw out to touch the bubbles on the surface then pulls it back quickly as if she’s shocked that it’s wet. A giggle escapes, then another and soon, I’m laughing full out at the expression on her smushed face. “I hate that Esther’s family didn’t want you, but I’m so glad you’re mine now and I’m yours,” I tell her. “All we need now is a dog for Dex.”
That gets me to thinking. It would need to be a breed that’s good with cats as well as children, so I mentally make a note to start searching. Might as well have a pet for everyone, right? If I’m going to embrace this chaos for the next however many years, I should have some fun and I know how much I loved the old hound dog my grampy had. We grew up alongside each other and if I was ever grateful for one thing it would be that Duke went over the Rainbow Bridge before Grampy died. Because otherwise, he would’ve ended up in a shelter like Prissy.
Before the water cools past room temperature, I quickly wash up then pull the plug, laughing again as Prissy seems fascinated at how the water is swirling down the drain. “Don’t do anything silly,” I warn her as I get out and grab a towel to dry off.
Since I’ve been following Black girl TikTok about skincare, I use my hair dryer on the cool setting and make sure all my bits and bobbles are completely dry, then I lotion my whole body before I slip on my nightgown that’s on the hook behind the bathroom door. While I do my nighttime face routine, I watch as Prissy daintily eats some more food, drinks some water, then hops into the automatic litter box that Dex insisted we buy to keep theodor down to a manageable level. He actually bought three total; the other two are in the mudroom for all three of the cats to use.
“I see you’re taking care of business before bed too,” I remark as I brush my teeth. “God, I’m so tired, but it’s been a good day.”
