The New Kitten

THE NEW KITTEN
By Marty 7- 30 - 2004

I lost my beloved Vegas about two years ago and I have missed him terribly. He had been there for me as I went through some bad times in my life. Vegas, had always showed his love for me and made those times easier to go through. I don't think that I would have made it through those times without him. But until now I couldn’t bear the thoughts of having a new cat. I would prefer to have Vegas back in my life. But knowing that he is gone from me forever and enough time has now passed to heal the loss, my heart now cried out to have another fuzzy baby.

Taylor and Daniel often spend the day with me during the summer. So on this particular day that they were visiting, the empty place in my heart called out so loudly that we made a trip to the Pound to find a new kitten. We went into the pound excited with the thoughts of finding just the right kitten. I had explained that if we didn’t find what I was looking for, that we would go home without a kitten. I didn’t want a kitten that looked like my sweet Vegas. That would hurt too much, and I didn’t want the new kitten to be shadowed with the love that I still felt for Vegas.

I told Taylor and Daniel that I wanted a Siamese or at least part Siamese, I wanted a kitten not a grown cat and I really wanted a female this time. Taylor and Daniel ran from cage to cage calling for me to come and look at the cat or kitten that was inside. Of course Taylor being seven years old and Daniel being five, all of the cats and kittens were perfect. There were three cage structures holding about 12 cages in each, with one to three animals in each cage depending on the size of the cat or kittens. We searched each cage looking at the different sizes and breeds of cats. Finally, in the second row of cage structures and on the bottom corner cage, I saw a small kitten that looked like it was part Siamese. I was excited about finding a kitten, but the kids were so excited that they were jumping up and down, you would have thought that it was Christmas. We took the kitten out of the cage to look it over and to check the sex. It was a male. I explained to the kids that this was the type of kitten I was looking for, but I wanted a female. I didn’t want to go through the problems that I had gone through with Vegas. So we continued looking through the remaining cages. We must have looked through the cages four or five times and always coming back to that same little kitten. I think that Vegas was with me that day. I felt as if Vegas was telling me to give this little guy a chance. We spent about ten more minutes and I finally gave into getting this special little kitten.

Both Taylor and Daniel wanted to carry the kitten up to the front desk, so that we could fill out the paper work. Of course Taylor won! She has a way of talking Daniel into things. While I was filling out the paper work, they were playing with the kitten and discussing where the kitten was going to ride in the car on the way home. Taylor had graciously given Daniel the front seat of the car for the ride home. So again it was Taylor that won the victory of having the kitten to herself. We got into the assigned seats of the car that seemed to be established for us by Taylor, me driving, Daniel in the front seat and Taylor in the back seat with the kitten.

On the drive home, we discussed what we should name the kitten. I told them that I had seen the name Ming and I had liked that name. Taylor said that she like that name too. Daniel didn’t seem to pay much attention to what we were saying because he was interested in looking at the controls on the dash board. Finally he started listening to Taylor and I. We were talking about the kitten and calling the kitten by the new name, Ming.
Daniel said, “Nonnie, Taylor, Quit calling him that!” I said, “What is it, Daniel? Don’t you like his name that we gave him? We named him, Ming.”
Daniel replies, “No! He’s not Mean. He’s a nice kitty.”

The remainder of our trip home was spent on trying to get Daniel to understand that we were not calling the kitten mean. Taylor and I kept trying to pronounce Ming, so that Daniel could understand the difference in the two words. We finally gave up. I said, “Taylor, I guess that we might need to think of a new name because we couldn’t have Daniel thinking that we were calling the kitten mean.”

We got home and Daniel was privileged with carrying the box containing the kitten into the house. After all it was his turn with the kitten and fifteen feet was pretty good, since Taylor had just ridden about twelve miles holding the kitten in her lap. And who knew if she would let him touch it again that day. Taylor was giving him instructions and offering to carry the kitten the whole way into the house. There was no way that Daniel would give in to Taylor this time. We got all of the required things ready that is needed for a kitten.

We decided that we would look on the internet for Japanese boy names. Since Taylor and I had liked the name Ming, we decided to check out the names that started with the letter M. We scanned down a list of names, most of which I couldn’t pronounce. Finally, I found one that I thought all the grand-kids could say and one that would not be mistaken for another name. I asked, Taylor and Daniel if they also thought this would be a good name. It was agreed that this was a good name and so at last the kitten now had his name. He would be called “Mikito,” which means the prince. Vegas would always be my king and what could be more proper than to follow in the steps of the king, but a prince. I think that we named Mikito appropriately.

*** By the second of August, it seemed that Mikito’s name had been shortened to Miko by the grand-kids.