Jazzi and I took a field trip to the pet stores this evening. The point being to talk me into taking the kitty plunge. Yes, this kitten fever will not subside.

These are all stray kitties trying to find homes. I liked a whiney black kitten at the first stop. But I didn't want to separate her from her weepy-eyed brother.

At PetsMart there was a collection of fabulous cats. When I approached the cages, there was a couple looking and also a nice lady. The lady and I struck up a conversation and I found out she has her eye on Simba, an orange 1 year old tabby cat, but fluffy. We decided his eyes looked so sad. He had been adopted and returned. In fact, you can't believe the stories I heard tonight about cats being adopted and returned. Waaah!

Three cats caught my eye. There was this fluffy gorgeous black grown cat, high cheek bones and everything. No kidding, cats have different facial structures, just like humans. I've been studying their profiles. This cat had big round golden eyes. She just lay there, looking like royalty.

Then there was a family of two boy kittens and their sister. The boys looked identical, black with the white paws, but only the lower half of each paw was white. It looked like someone painted on the white, like a French pedicure, I was impressed with the straight edge of the white, very cute. They also had snips of white on their faces. The girl was solid black. They are 10 weeks old and were very playful, until they conked out in a heap.

THEN there was this little tabby kitten, TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUSLY cute. This kitten was a little girl with personality bursting out all over the place, the cage could hardly contain her, 8 weeks old. She wanted to play and bite right through the glass, no sense wasting time feeling sorry for herself, she advertised. Really, I need a cat like that, with a good attitude that can rub off on me. Her markings were very cute, you know, for a tabby. She had this little inquisitive face and her eyes dominated. Oh my, and get this, on one cream colored front paw she had a gray toe. That about did it, because the gray toe would always remind me of guess who? Earl Gray, of course.

I'm thinking I want a girl for Jazzi, since she did so well with my niece's cat, Alice. This would make me feel better about not getting Earl Gray. Maybe Jazzi wouldn't want a boy kitty friend.

The other good news is I stood in the cat cage for a very long time at the first store. It smelled terrible, and so far I am not having cat attacks, as in closed up nostrils, inability to breathe, chest closing up and all the rest.

So, the sweet lady wanting Simba and I talked and carried on. She said she couldn't get Simba until the first of the month. I said, like a goon, What's up with the first of the month? She said her disability check. She also said she had had a former pet, a dog for 14 years. She lives in an apartment and really needs an animal for companionship. She also said Cockateals (sorry, have no idea how to spell) think they are human.

Before long I said, Let me pay for Simba, it will be my gift to you, you can take him home tonight. She liked that, except she said she still would need to wait in order to buy all the cat accoutrements. Then we found out the Adoption Center was closed for the night anyway. I almost said, Meet me here tomorrow and we'll both go home with cats. But I hesitated and then she left. I ended up driving around her apartment complex, 'cause I had asked her where she lived, hoping I'd find her, but that was hopeless, it was a HUGE complex.

It just slayed me that this dear woman wanted a cat and couldn't quite afford it just yet. Kitty cats need homes, it's a good thing to take a cat. I think she was a Christian, she said something about God and had this lovely glow, such a graciousness about her, in spite of her disability. Isn't that the way it usually goes? Well, boy, I hope she gets Simba. I want to be friends with this lady and have kitty cat play dates.

I know that as I lie in bed tonight and think of that tabby, that if I come up with just the right name, that I will have to have it. That's the way it goes.

Thank you for listening to my kitty stories.

KEM