Now We Are One. Aileen Cleave

Ripper, Sultan and  Duke eyed me with exquisite feline contempt from their vantage point stretched  along the back of the sofa.

“Foolish human” I imagined them saying.  “We know you’ve had cat enemy number one secreted in the study for over a week now.  We don’t need to see him, we can smell, hear and sense him.”.

I’ll try reasoning with them, I thought and sat down on the chair in front to ensure I had their undivided attention.

“Look, guys,” three pairs of yellow eyes stared back at me without blinking.  “Remember how you came to be here, in this very comfortable home? Remember how cold and hungry and afraid you were?” There was an almost imperceptible widening of the eyes at the word afraid.  Not an emotion any one of them would readily  admit to. “When you had to prowl and hunt and sleep in those dangerous streets?”  Ripper stretched a little further and Sultan and Duke humoured me with a slow blink.  “Well, we welcomed you into our home, didn’t we? Fed you, nurtured you and loved you, did we not?”   This was met with an impassive stare.

“Anyway, this new little fella,” I swear that Ripper’s expression was sardonic, “this little fella was thrown onto the streets to fend for himself and he wasn’t doing it very well - not nearly as well as you guys did”.  I looked at them hoping for some sign of approval, none was forthcoming.

“OK,”.  I stood up.  “ I want you all to be very nice to him and welcome him into our family.  His name is Josh and I’m going to talk to him now, explain how important you guys are and stress how respectful he must be towards you”.

I went into the kitchen where Lucy was preparing chicken for the animals’ supper.

“We’ll do it today, Lucy”.  Our eyes met and Lucy took a deep breath.

I crossed the hall,  went into the study and was met with an ecstatic bundle of red fur.

“OK Josh, calm down, I need to talk to you.”

I sat down and Josh positioned himself between my knees, his tail and whole rear end moving in paroxysms of happiness.  He had been extremely nervous when we first brought him home ten  days ago. The rescue centre thought he was about 10 months old and for the majority of his young life, had been confined to a cage, so he was terrified of everything.  But now his natural resilience was coming to the fore, and he was curious about his surroundings.  It was getting harder  to keep him separated from the cats, and already we loved all four animals, so it was imperative that this introduction went well.

“Listen, little fella”, I took Josh’s head in my hands and looked down  into trusting brown eyes, eyes that assured me he understood every word I said.

“Cats live here with us, very important cats.” Josh acknowledged this with a loving lick of my hand.  He knew this already , of course.  Smelt them the first day .  “It’s very important, Josh, that we all get along just fine, OK?”  Totally fine by me, shrugged Josh.  

The cats were still redolent on the sofa which I took to be a good sign, better that they were all in one place.  Lucy went to sit with them and murmur soothing sounds.  I attached Josh’s lead, made a fuss of him and filled my pockets with tiny pieces of treats.  I told him again,  most earnestly,  that his very future depended on his exemplary behaviour.

Trying not to let my tension travel down the lead, I opened the sitting  room door and we entered.   Josh stopped  in his tracks, ears pointing upwards.  The cats were perfectly still apart from a small warning hiss from Sultan .  I gave Josh a small treat and some encouraging sounds and walked him round the room.  He made to go towards the cats but I pulled him back with a firm no.  Lucy reassured Sultan with a gentle tickle behind his ears.  I walked Josh round and round the room, gradually getting closer to the cats.  He eventually lost interest in the cats and Ripper, by now totally bored, stretched, jumped onto the sideboard and made his elevated way to the door.  The floor was now a place to be avoided

Lucy and I began to breath easily.  There had been no skin and hair flying and we decided for a first introduction, it could be deemed a success.  So now we were one.