This is just a little filler that I've been wanting to do for a while that I wanted to incorporate with the rest of the story, and I figured now would be a good time.

Erik looked down and saw several little bundles of gray fur scattered across his porch and watched as one blew away in the wind. Now why would an animal take rest here? He had always made sure that his garbage cans were tightly sealed so that even if they were knocked over, nothing would be able to dig through it.

"What's wrong?" Christine asked as she exited Erik's house.

"We seem to have a little guest," Erik replied. "But who?"

"I think the answer might be over there." She pointed towards the bushes as a little gray and black-striped cat hopped out of them. By the looks of it, it seemed to be no older than a year.

"Oh, dear," Erik said shaking his head. "This is the last thing I need."

"Aw, look, it's coming right towards us." The cat casually walked the porch steps and eagerly took in every pet Christine gave it.

"Don't do that! We don't know where it's been!"

"Oh, don't be so uptight, dear." The cat walked away from Christine and rubbed itself against Erik's legs and let out a loud purr.

"Ah! No, don't do that! Go away! Get out of here! Shoo!" Erik said as he tried to push away the cat with his foot.

"Aw, it likes you, Erik."

"It also likes covering my pant legs with fur," Erik added with disdain as he looked at the fur sticking to him. "And no, we are not keeping it. The last thing I need is a something to completely disorganize my compositions and ruin my clothes."

So for several days, Christine left a dish of water outside for the cat, which she soon discovered was female. And every day it would come to visit their little house and even sleep on the porch, which Erik reluctantly allowed.

One day, however, something different happened. Early one morning, Erik opened his door and looked left and right before stepping outside with a dish of tuna in his hands.

"Are you awake, cat?" The cat unrolled herself, stretched, and walked over to him and she began to eat the tuna. "Good girl. Now look, how about we just keep this between you and me, okay?" He then began to pet the cat, who purred enthusiastically and he had found the cat's fur quite soft to the touch. "Mm… you know, I think I was wrong about you; you really are quite a good cat."

"I'm so glad you finally came around," Christine said.

"Ah! Christine!" Erik cried shooting up to his feet. "I, uh, didn't see you there. You see what I was doing, was… you see I… Ayesha just was here and-"

"Ayesha?"

"Yes… that was what I thought would be a good name for the cat."

"It's a wonderful name, I think. But do you really think it's right to leave someone with a name out alone all night?"

"I'll go to the store right now and get some cat supplies," Erik said with a defeated sigh.

Erik had gone to the general store and within half an hour he was home with what he might have called "the crazy cat person's essentials". The Phantom of the Opera; sensitive cat owner he thought. Somehow I never would have predicted that this would be even remotely close to how my life would have turned out.

Still, he saw how happy the little cat made Christine and who was he to take that away? Just watching her laugh as she played with Ayesha made him smile. And to be truthful, he enjoyed the cat's company as much as she did.

Read and review, please, they always make me happy.