Melani Blazer

We live in town, in a neighborhood criss crossed with a grid of streets and back alleys. These alleys are populated with a few dozen cats, and even more kittens.

We have four cats, all adult neutered males, all behemoths. They love to lay at the side door and watch the outside. This must have intrigued the babies outside because pretty soon we were seeing tiny dark shapes dodging under the trucks, rustling in the flowers beside the steps and darting between the garage and the house.

So, my husband, an amazing man when it comes to animals, decides we have to feed them. “Fatten them up for winter” is his rationale. The first night we fed them it was raining. We put a sandwich-sized rubbermaid container under the front bumper of the truck. We saw nothing (peering through the teeny window in our side door), but in the morning, the food was gone.

The next night, we did it again, this time we caught sight of the little black furballs flittling under the trucks. Then again and again, until they wouldn’t dart away when they heard us walk up to the door. This last week, we’ve been working in the garage until about dusk, and two of the braver kittens have come around, looking for food while we were still outside. They also are not intimidated by the quartet of faces at the window staring at them.

Their numbers are multiplying as well. First there were 2 black cats, a gray and a gray tabby. Two nights ago I saw a pair of tabbies, twins, likely. The husband watches more diligently and he’s seen up to four black ones.

Last night it was cold and rainy, so we turned a large rubbermaid tub upside down on the bottom step so they could get beneath and huddle out of the rain and wind. We gave them extra food under there so it would stay dry and not get all soggy.

This morning, there was a masicated but recognizable mouse carcass left on the top step.

They love us. They really love us.