Jack walked into his apartment and turned on the light. The kitten stirred a little in his arm as he shrugged off his jacket and threw it onto a nearby chair. He grabbed a copy of the Sunday Times that he had skimmed through earlier that day. With his free hand he laid it down on the hard tiled kitchen floor and placed the kitten down on it.
"Don't get too comfortable." Jack murmured as the kitten yawned and stretched and moved into a more comfortable position. He walked over to his hall closet and pulled out a phone book. Immediately he skimmed for the ASPCA's local phone number, picked up his phone, and dialed the number.
"Thank you for calling the Manhattan Division of the ASPCA, we are currently closed. We are open Monday through Friday 8am-5pm, if you'd like to leave a message..."
"Dammit!" Jack yelled and slammed down the phone. He searched through the phone book once again and called a local animal shelter. But when he listened to the attitude of the shelter's owner, he immediately hung up angrily. He tried one more shelter who said they didn't pick up animals and that he had to bring it in.
Jack looked out the window and it was already getting dark. He was tired and in no mood to grab a cab, head through NYC traffic, drop off the cat and go through the whole thing over again. And he sure as hell wasn't going to take the cat on his bike.
"Thank you." Jack said tiredly and hung up the phone. He peered over to the kitten who was still curled up in a ball on the newspaper fast asleep. He walked over to the kitten and kneeled down.
"Again you seem to have won cat." Jack said. "Guess you're going to be staying with me for the night. But first thing in the morning I am taking you over to the ASPCA. You are not staying here, you get me?"
The kitten opened its eyes and looked up at Jack.
"Don't think the cute act will work furball, you picked the wrong person to manipulate."
"Mewl." It said and got up and stretched and walked over to Jack and nuzzled his hanging hand.
"You probably have fleas too." Jack whispered, but inside he was humbled. "I suppose you're hungry. You better hope I have milk otherwise its tap water for you."
Jack got up and opened up the fridge. It was already pretty scarce. Just some leftover eggplant parmesan from Luigi's, a few bottles of beer, and something mysterious and probably alive in a Tupperware bowl. He hunted in the abyss further and found a small carton of half and half.
"Huh, I don't remember having this Jaime must have brought it when we pulled that all nighter on that Mancuso case." Jack said as he took the carton and checked for the expiration date. It was still not expired. He opened the lid and sniffed. He shrugged, seemed fine to him. He then went hunting for a bowl. The kitten meanwhile kept rubbing up against his legs.
"Alright, alright I am coming you little beggar." Jack scolded. He hunted through his cupboards. The bowls he used occasionally for cereal and soup would be too big for the cat; it would probably knock the bowl over and make a mess.
"Mew, mew." The cat cried.
"Whining isn't going to get you any further to food." Jack said as he started hunting around the apartment. He found a small glass wide ashtray on his coffee table. He lifted it up.
"Grand Central Hyatt?" He said looking at the back of the ashtray. Then his heart began to ache as the memory flowed back. He had taken Claire there last year a few months before her death. She had helped him win a big case and he really wanted to celebrate with her. But instead of their usual go to a bar and apartment fan faire, he surprised her with tickets to the opera, and then afterward a walk around central park, and then to the Hyatt for the rest of the evening. They hadn't left till the next morning. It had been a truly wonderful night. He had absconded with the ashtray as a memory and his arm around Claire's waist as they left the hotel.
"Mrow?"
That knocked Jack back to reality as the kitten was starting to knead at his leg with its tiny claws.
"Ouch hey!" Jack yelled. "Watch it! Alright, I'll feed you!"
He stomped over to the kitchen sink and washed out the ashtray. After he dried it, he poured some of the half and half into the ashtray, he then placed it on the newspaper as the kitten trotted over to it.
"There you happy now?" Jack asked sarcastically. The kitten stared into the bowl and then looked up at him.
"Go on, drink it." Jack said just as his stomach began to rumble. He clutched it and decided it was time for him to eat too. After a second hunt through the fridge he pulled out the leftover eggplant parmesan and put the contents on a plate and into the microwave. While it was heating he grabbed a beer from the fridge and opened it. He turned over to cat as he took a sip. It was just staring at the ashtray of milk.
"You gonna stare at it or eat?" Jack said as he pulled his dinner out of the microwave.
"Mrew?
"Your choice." Jack said as he took his dinner and headed to the living room and turned on the tv. He had a case to work on, but he decided to take it easy tonight. He had spent the last week leafing through law books and criminal records while listening to the smart alec ramblings of a snot nosed lawyer at least 15 years younger than him trying to make him drop the charges. Capital murder of a mother of two because the husband needed the cash, but wants to plead insanity, yeah right.
He turned on the evening news and collapsed against the couch.
"Meow, mewl." The cat howled from the kitchen.
"Eat your dinner!" Jack yelled as he took a bite of his meal.
"Mreow, mrew."
"Not gonna work!" Jack yelled as he turned up the volume of the tv and grabbed his beer.
"Mreeeewww."
Jack grumbled and got up angrily and headed towards the kitchen.
"WHAT?" Jack yelled as he stared down at the cat. "I gave you milk, you should be passed out by now."
He looked at the ashtray. It was still pretty full. The kitten however just pawed at it and looked up at Jack with sad eyes.
"What is it with you!?" Jack yelled he said kneeling down. "See, milk, eat!"
Jack put his finger into the milk and shoved it under the cat's nose. The kitten sniffed it and began licking his finger. Jack raised an eyebrow. The kitten licked its chops and mewled again. Jack put his finger once again into the milk and the kitten ate it up hungrily.
"Huh, for a stray I figured you had the eating thing down." Jack said with a sigh. He took the ashtray and poured some of the milk into his open hand. He then put it under the kitten's nose and once again it drank happily. So happily its face was getting covered in milk. Jack couldn't help but laugh as he wiped it off with his thumb.
Around 11pm after an hour of dozing on the couch Jack got ready for bed. He made a makeshift litterbox out of an old shoebox and crumpled newspaper and put the kitten in it. He left some more newspapers around for the kitten to sleep on as well.
"Time for bed." Jack said as he put the kitten down. The kitten stretched and yawned and curled up into a ball.
"I have to get you down to the ASPCA before heading into the office, so its going to be an early morning." Jack said as he turned off the light in the kitchen. "'Night furball."
Jack headed into his bedroom and he collapsed into bed. Within half an hour he was fast asleep.
Two am. Jack awoke feeling he wasn't alone. He sat up quickly just as he felt something jump into his lap. He looked down to see the kitten curling up against him. Jack lifted it off.
"Scram!" He said pointing out towards the door. "I made you a perfectly nice bed out in the kitchen! Besides, you probably got bugs on you, last thing I need is an infestation!"
The kitten just looked up at him and moved towards him.
"Oh no." Jack said as he tried to move the kitten away from him. "Off and out!"
The kitten circled and then lay down next to him.
Jack slapped his forehead. He was too tired for this and wasn't about to get out of his nice comfy bed and put the cat back in the kitchen.
"Fine." He murmured wrapping the blankets around him. "But just for tonight. Tomorrow, new home you go!"
The kitten was already asleep as Jack once again got comfortable and fell asleep with the kitten lightly snoring against him.