Angel lay sprawled on her side in the parlor, tongue drooping and sides rising and falling to the beat of her racing heart. What a morning she'd had! She couldn't have imagined how much fun it was to play fetch with the humans and then tag with her new family before she came here, but that life seemed a long way off now, even if it were just a few weeks.

She turned her eyes towards the door as Darling carried Junior in with a few of his toys and sat down with her sewing. Seeing Angel, Junior lost interest in his toys and scooted over to see if the new puppy wanted to play. As he rubbed his hands over her neck and back, Angel's license jingled and she felt anew the pleasure of being owned by someone.

It wasn't as if she didn't appreciate where she'd been or how far she'd come from those days and nights of insecurity on the streets, but sometimes she got caught up in the living of this great new life and didn't think too much about the past.

"Junior, dear, Angel's tired-she played hard this morning-you must leave her alone for a bit."

Junior turned to give his mother a pleading pouty look-he only wanted to see if Angel might play with him.

"Leave her alone for a bit, son." Darling stood firm.

Suddenly, the phone began ringing and Darling picked up the parlor extension. After listening for a moment, a smile tugged at her lips.

"Oh, Sarah, a cruise sounds perfectly lovely-yes, yes, of course we don't mind-no, no, Jim loves them as much as I do-your cats are always welcome here-"

Cats?

Angel almost came to her feet at the word-the last time she'd been tossed back to the street was because the family's cat didn't like her. She began to back slowly out of the room, much to Junior's dismay. Darling prattled on,

"Yes, of course, Sarah, don't worry so much, dear-the dogs love them-a new one? Yes, she's a dear thing-"

That was all Angel heard before she sprinted down the hall and nearly crashed into Scamp, who was coming around the corner.

"Oh, there you are!" His tail quivered a little, "Glad to see you've got your wind back-my sisters said they'd only come if you did-say, what's wrong?"

"Cats-coming here," It was all Angel could manage. Tears began to form in her eyes.

Scamp looked confused for a moment. Cats? OH! He couldn't help but wag his tail and a sloppy smile appeared.

"Si and Am are coming? That must have been Aunt Sarah-I heard the phone ring-great-what's wrong?"

Angel's bottom lip quivered, "Scamp, the last home I was in-they threw me out cause the cat wouldn't stop harassing me-they figured it didn't like me, and I got booted out."

Scamp sobered up for a moment,

"Oh, I'm sorry-I'd forgotten that-I'm sorry-but it's different here-"

"Who says?"

"Me-the one who was born here. Don't worry-you'll see-Si and Am are-"

Well, now, he really shouldn't flat-out lie.

"Well, they can be annoying, but they are cats, after all, and mostly they're sweet-just take your cues from us when they get here, and they'll warm up to you fast enough."

He continued on with a change of subject,

"Come on, let's go back outside-sisters await, and this will be fun!"

Angel looked uncertain-uncertain of the cats; uncertain of Scamp's idea.

Finally, she rolled her eyes, sighed, and trudged after him.

About a week later, the house was a complete bustle of activity. It was something that, Scamp had informed Angel, happened every time Aunt Sarah came around. There was a clamor of excited chatter and laughter as the adult humans regaled each other with how their lives were going, and Junior ran to and fro with a new toy-a little wooden boat-from his great-aunt. He seemed to think it was a train because he continually made train noises while playing with it.

Angel walked around on tip-toes, unsure of how she should behave in all the new excitement, and increasingly apprehensive about the supposed new arrivals. The problem was, Angel hadn't even gotten a whiff of cats in the house-maybe, Aunt Sarah had made other arrangements? Angel hoped so.

She past by the open parlor door, and did a double-take. A box in the parlor? Where did that come from?

She advanced cautiously and set her nose inches from the lid.

It seemed to rise on its own and Angel was suddenly face-to-face with two pairs of bright sparkling blue eyes-eyes that screamed curiosity, mischief, and fun, all rolled into one. Angel drew back in surprise.

Immediately, two pairs of black front paws appeared on the edge of the box and the lid was knocked aside as two black masks rose as one from the depths. They're eyes were mesmerizing to Angel-she wanted to run, but somehow, she couldn't.

They were completely out of the box now, their wheaten bodies were glossy and their black tails hung like shepherds' staffs-twins in every sense of the word.

They advanced towards her, holding her attention as a snake charmer holds the attention of a cobra. They rubbed against the length of her body. She could feel them purring and couldn't help but shiver as their heads pressed into either side of her.

Suddenly, Junior ran by the open door, trailed closely by Scamp. Seeing the goings-on in the parlor, Scamp did a double-take, then began furiously wagging his tail and dove into their midst with happy barks.

"Hi boys! Boy, am I glad you guys are here! My sisters need someone to play with them." He couldn't resist a chuckle at that comment, "You guys are perfect!" His happy barks filled the room.

Si and Am were quickly sent to the top of the couch in order to get out of the way, but they were almost immediately back down, giving Scamp the same sort of rub down that they'd given Angel. Scamp gave them a few licks in return, but they didn't seem to like that.

Oh well, Scamp thought.

Angel stood by, watching uncertainly. Scamp gave her a grin.

"Say guys," he addressed the two cats, "This is our new friend, Angel-she lives here now."

Si and Am turned to give Angel another up-and-down look and rubbing. Again, she couldn't help but shiver as their glossy bodies rubbed her from chest to tail.

Then they came to stand in front of her.

"You are new," one of them purred.

"Y-yes," Angel stammered and took a step backwards.

The cats took a step forward.

The cat turned to his brother,

"There is someone new."

They spoke together, "We are si-am-ese-do you please, or do you not please?"

"Um."

Angel took another step backwards. The cats took another step forward.

Scamp plunged into their midst with more happy yelps and the cats-whose attention was so intently on Angel-were sent to the back of the couch again. They didn't stay there-and Scamp was rewarded with a playful cuff.

"Come on, guys," Scamp laughed jovially, "Leave Angel alone."

In turn, the two brothers, turned their attention back to Angel-their eyes bright with interest.

They walked as one towards her, and again, she was too mesmerized to move. This time they stopped a foot or so in front of her.

"I like-do you like?" One asked the other.

"I like."

They turned their attention back to Angel.

"We like."

They gave her another rubbing. Angel was too relieved to shiver.

That night, Angel headed towards the back room for bed. Most everyone else was asleep already, but Angel had been too happy to sleep till now-she'd made it through her first day with the cats and things looked promising for the rest of their stay.

Scamp had been right, they were a little neurotic-Si had a fascination with Darling's knitting yarn, and Am loved to hide under the drapes and grab the unexpecting-but none of that mattered. Angel had two new friends.

As she came into the room, Angel noticed two odd lumps-one curled up atop Tramp's head and neck, and the other sprawled over the top of Scamp's sisters. She stared at them for several moments, perplexed, before she recognized that it was Si and Am, sleeping peacefully.

Angel was a little taken aback by this situation, but after all that she'd learned about them that day, she had to admit, she wasn't all that surprised.

She smiled wearily, but with a happy heart, and curled up to sleep.