"Mu, you have to get the boy a dog."
"I am not getting him a dog."
"But Mu, they're man's best friend! Loyal to a fault, love to play around and most of all are not cats."
"I told Kiki he could get a cat if he wanted to, and that's what I'm sticking with. They're smaller, require less maintenance and are all around less of a hassle than dogs."
"But dogs are so much nicer than cats!" Aldebaran bemoaned his friend's insistence to ignore sense.
"If you're so hell bent on me getting Kiki a dog and not a cat, when I've told you time and time again that I am not going to do so, why have you even bothered to come with us?" Mu's eyes were as flat as a prairie as he regarded Aldebaran.
It was a sunny weekend afternoon. Kiki was walking a few steps a head of the adults, a distinct spring in each step he took. After months of asking, Mu had finally caved and told the boy they could head down to a local animal shelter to pick out a pet of his very own. A cat Mu had insisted, much to Aldebaran's chagrin.
The shelter itself was a low set building, tucked down a neatly up kept lane. A large dog run wrapped around the back of the building. As they approached a pair of dogs, blond shaggy fur covering their bodies, started up a round of barking.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to convince you otherwise." And maybe to go down to the kennels and play with a few dogs himself. He was already itching to go visit the two dogs who were baying excitedly at the fence. Not that he was going to tell Mu that.
"You already know I'm not changing my mind. Why don't you just admit that the real reason you're here is because you want to go play with the dogs. None of which I should remind you, am I getting Kiki."
Aldebaran blew out a breath. Sometimes it was difficult being friends with a man like Mu. He always seemed to know more about what was going on in your head than you did.
For all the discussion of the two adults, Kiki's excitement was not barred in the slightest. The child skipped ahead of Mu and Aldebaran, mouth wide in a smile and the first one to reach the door to the animal shelter. Kiki flung the door open wide and bounded inside. Beside him, Aldebaran saw Mu flinch as the panes of glass in the door rattled violently.
Inside, a cozy office welcomed them. A row of chairs were lined up against one wall, sitting opposite of a tall counter. Pictures of dogs and cats filled up every inch of space on the walls, presumably former adoptees of the shelter. Behind the counter a man sat with his head buried in a stack of papers. The man looked up at Kiki's exuberant entrance, smiling at the boy before spreading his smile to include Mu and Aldebaran as they tracked in after him.
Aldebaran grimaced slightly as he had to turn nearly sideways to fit his massive shoulders through the doorframe. Being such a large man wasn't always easy. The world was built for smaller people than himself.
"Are you here to adopt a pet, young man?" The staff member asked Kiki kindly, standing up from his paperwork.
Kiki's head was a blur of nodding. "Yes I am!" He crowed, excitement causing each of his words to tumble out faster than the last. "My name's Kiki and I wanna get a dog and a cat, but master Mu says I'm only allowed a cat, so I'm here to get a cat!"
"Well, Kiki, it's my job to pair people with the perfect pet just for them. Would you like me to show you to the cat kennels?" He looked up at Mu and Aldebaran, waiting for a nod of confirmation from Mu before he rounded the side of the counter. Kiki, hopping from foot to foot, followed at the man's heels as he led the way down a narrow hallway.
"I'll come with you to get him the cat, but I'm going to visit the dogs before we leave," Aldebaran said, stepping forward with Mu.
Mu nodded absently. "Yes, yes, we can do that if you insist."
The room holding the adoptable cats was brightly lit by sunlight which streamed in from two large windows. Large cat kennels filled the room, housing cats of all kinds. A plump calico was slurping thirstily from a water dish, its tail twitching from side to side. In the kennel beside it a cat that resembled a white cotton ball lounged across a pet bed. Another cage held trio of grey kittens who were chasing each other's tails around and around. A raucous mewling erupted from a number of the cats when the arrival of the humans was noticed.
Kiki almost exploded with excitement at the sight of them all, and moved to sprint toward the nearest cage, one holding a long haired tabby with a bushy tail. Mu caught his shirtsleeve before the boy could get too far. Kneeling down he told Kiki firmly, "Remember to be calm so as not to scare them." Kiki nodded gravely at Mu's words. When Mu released him, Kiki approached his chosen kennel at a much more sedate pace.
"You can take them out of the cage if you want," the shelter staff member encouraged. He had settled himself against the one wall free of cat cages, out of the way. "But no more than one cat out at a time."
Kiki nodded at him, and with almost exaggerated calm opened the cage holding the tabby. He reached in and grasped the cat around its middle, and pulled it out to snuggle it. It wriggled slightly in his arms, but settled down as soon as Mu reached out with a hand and gently stroked its head.
Aldebaran settled in to wait while Kiki played with the cats before making his decision on which to take home with him. His nose furled slightly at the stench of cat fur and litter that permeated the whole room. Soon, he reminded himself, soon he'd be able to go down and see dogs. He started to pass the time by imagining all the fun he'd have once he got to go see the better animals.
Kiki had just returned the first cat to its cage and was moving on to the one that held the trio of grey kittens when Aldebaran felt a set of claws rake lightly across his upper arm. He jumped at the feather light touch, and swivelled around to glare at the culprit. His brows instantly softened when he caught sight of the cat.
It may very well have been the saddest looking animal he'd ever seen. It was a skinny, mangy little beast with one of its ears torn down to half its normal size. Its coat was a patchwork of sleek black fur and patches with only the barest hints of new hair growth. Worst of all, the animal was propped on three legs, its left hind leg little more than a stump off its hindquarters. Yet, despite the awkward way it had to balance, it was reaching out with its front right leg fully extended. Reaching out to him.
The cat stretched its toes out so that it could just reach far enough to brush Aldebaran's arm with the tips of its claws a second time. The cat opened its jaws, calling to him with a small, squeak of a 'mew'. Aldebaran glanced surreptitiously in Mu's direction, finding him busy helping Kiki pet one of the kittens without letting all three loose in the room. Scooting closer to the cage, Aldebaran stuck a couple fingers between the bars.
The cat instantly sidled up to him, rubbing its cheek against his fingers. A smile rose unbidden to Aldebaran's face, and he was soon crooking his fingers to scratch the mangled cat underneath its chin. Its eyelids dropped slightly, and the cat leaned heavily into his touch.
Crippled as it was, somehow this cat had managed to be nicer than any cat had any right to be. A cat like this couldn't stay in a shelter Aldebaran decided all of the sudden. "Mu," he hissed to get the other man's attention. Kiki was all smiles as he held one of the grey kittens in his hands, but Mu's eyes widened in surprise when he turned to see Aldebaran's fingers poking through the cage to scratch the cat. "Get this one," Aldebaran jerked his head in the direction of the cat that had now rolled on its back to bat playfully at his fingers with its three little paws.
"Oh, I'm sorry but you wouldn't be able to take her," the staff member spoke up before Mu could respond. Smiling kindly he explained, "Because of her disability she needs a quieter home, so we're not adopting her out to a house with young children."
Aldebaran frowned slightly. The man's reasoning made sense, but he panged to see the little animal stuck in a shelter. The cat had stopped playing with his finger, and had hopped with surprising grace back to her feet. She walked across his fingers, rubbing her body against them, then curling around to get her face scratched once more. A series of pig like snorting noises erupted from the cat. Aldebaran eyed her, wondering if this was a sign of another health issue.
"That's how she purrs," the staff member explained with an amuse expression at Aldebaran's look. "She's a little special."
She was purring. This poor, mangled cat, making these noises that sounded more like grunts than any sound a cat was supposed to make, was actually purring.
Had Aldebaran been able to see his own face he would have known that his expression, already softened when the cat had started to play with his fingers, had now melted into a puddle of appreciation for the skinny, little cat. His voice wasn't even the slightest bit reluctant when he said, "I'll take her then."
Fifteen minutes later Aldebaran, Mu and Kiki were walking out of the animal hospital, the staff member waving after them. Kiki held a box containing the grey kitten he had been cuddling earlier. Aldebaran smiled down at the carrier clutched between his own large hands. He was already considering naming her Leitão because she still hadn't stopped her strange snorting purrs. It didn't even occur to him that they had neglected to stop in and visit the dogs before leaving.