Grace and Simon walked along together in the park on a cool Saturday afternoon. The day before Grace had performed in yet another recital and she was still excited from it. As Simon walked next to her she couldn't help but twirl as she recounted how her instructor had said that she was close to the level of a high school dancer. Grace completed yet another spin and was about to continue recounting her story when something caught her eye and she stopped. Walking back towards Simon who was a few steps behind her she touched his hair.
"What are you doing that for?" he asked. Grace stopped touching his hair and answered.
"You had a leaf in your hair. Also, is your hair getting longer?" she questioned now clearly able to see the few extra inches that it had grown now that she was up close. Simon nodded.
"Yeah, I'm growing it out, do you like it?" he questioned. Simon's voice went up in that way it always did when he was nervous and Grace laughed a little inside because his voice always did that when he wanted her approval and she wasn't quite sure why he cared. But, even if she didn't know why Simon wanted her approval she knew he wanted it and because Simon was her best friend and she cared about him she'd give him approval until he learned to get approval from himself.
"I think it makes you look cute." Grace said and she meant it. Grace could almost swear she saw pink rising in Simon's ears at the comment. She wasn't sure how long he intended to grow his hair out but she could imagine Simon with long hair and she thought it would frame his face nicely. Then she imagined that, knowing Simon, it'd probably get everywhere and constantly fall into his face. She figured his mom would probably make him put it in a ponytail for practicality. Grace started to say something else but was distracted by the sound of a pained meow.
"What was that?" Simon asked as the two looked around the park for the source of the sound. The area was relatively empty which was good because the both of them were loud and unabashedly embarrassing when it came to the things that they loved. However the meow had broken the illusion of solitude they'd had and both now wanted to locate the animal at its source. Walking over towards the bush where the sound had been heard Grace pulled the leaves away to reveal a small, sick looking tan kitten.
"It's a kitten!" Grace practically cooed. The thing was alone and curled up in the bush likely searching for warmth. It's eyes were swelled shut and it's meowing sounded pained, as if it took considerable effort. Simon walked over to her side and looked at the kitten as laid in the bush.
"Based on it's size and it's ear curl I'd say this kitten is about three weeks old." he assessed. Grace gave Simon a curious look about his random and useful knowledge. "I read it in a book once," he explained. "And anyway based on how dirty and small it is the mom probably left it. Sometimes mother cats leave because the kitten is sick and they don't want the rest of the litter to get infected, so that's probably why." he explained.
"You know a lot of random stuff Simon." Grace said. Simon shrugged at this, likely because he knew it was true. "Anyway look at this poor thing," she said sadly. "It will die if we don't get help." she added. Simon looked weary at the prospect of touching the thing.
"Cats carry tons of diseases…" he started before trailing off. Grace looked at him annoyed by his apathy at the situation.
"Simon, it will die if we don't help!" she said before grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "D-I-E die! We can't just sit back and let that happen, it would make us bad people." she said seriously. Simon relented in his apathy and finally agreed with Grace.
"Alright, alright. If we want to save it we'll have to get it to a vet." he explained. Grace pulled out her phone and searched for nearby vets.
"There's one not too far from here, we can make it twenty minutes if we run." she said. Simon let out an annoyed groan.
"Can't we just ask Peirce to pick us up and drive us over there?" he asked. Grace glared at him and Simon took a step back.
"Simon, imagine if when your parents were walking along at the park they saw a puppy in the bushes abandoned by its mother and did nothing and it died. Imagine that puppy was Archduke Franz Ferdidand. Now, do you want to wait for the car or do you want to save the cat?" she asked. That seemed to finally help Simon to fully get on board with their journey as he nodded and fully relented.
"Lead the way." he said and Grace followed the GPS on her phone as the two made the twenty minute walk towards the clinic in the hope that they could help save the poor thing's life. Grace held the animal in her hands after Simon had made it clear he wasn't touching it for fear of the diseases it carried and the two recklessly crossed streets without looking up, single-minded in theri goal of reaching the veterinary office. Finally the two did arrive and burst through the doors into the waiting room.
"This cat needs medical attention!" Grace announced as the two entered. Luckily for them they were the only people who were in the waiting room or else that entrance probably would have been embarrassing at least in Grace's eyes. The receptionist stepped from behind the desk to talk to them.
"What's going on?" she asked as she looked at the animal Grace cupped in her hands. Grace did her best to quickly explain the events that preceded the two bursting into the area.
"Me and my friend found this sick cat outside and we need you to help it." Grace said. She handed the woman the kitten and reached for her backpack intending to pull out her wallet. "I can pay-" Grace began before the woman waved her off.
"We'll give this baby a check up on the house, just go wash your hands. Cats carry a lot of diseases you know." she said before taking the kitten to the observation room. Simon gave Grace a smug look over his correct assessment of cats and their germ carrying habits and she rolled her eyes at his smugness before washing her hands. The two sat in the waiting room and Grace tapped her foot anxiously as she waited with baited breath for the return of the news on the cat.
"Should we call your parents to tell them that we left the park?" Simon questioned. Grace thought for a moment about which of those options would end with her getting in trouble and elected to answer with the one that did not.
'No, we'll be back before Peirce comes to pick us up." she responded as a man in a light blue lab coat excited the back and handed the kitten back to Grace.
"I looked her over and while she is a little sick a few doses of antibiotics will be enough to keep her healthy." he said handing Grace a pill bottle. "The instructions are on the side." he explained and Grace turned to see that they were in fact on the side of the bottle. "What I'm more concerned about is how young she is, kittens are supposed to stay with their mothers for eight weeks and she's only three." Grace's brow furrowed at the news.
"What can I do?" she asked. The doctor explained to her the steps she'd need to take in order to keep a kitten alive until it reached the age where it could be treated like a regular cat. Grace listened to all of this dutifully. She had always had a fondness for animals, specifically the small and weak. Simon had once joked that it was that same fondness that led her to spend time with him Grace obviously knew this to be false. She hung out with Simon because she liked Simon, she protected small animals because she needed to.
Someone had to look out for the things that were tiny and small and needed help from people who were bigger and so ever since she was very little she'd always tried to. Her father often recounted a story of when Grace was no older than three and was in a stroller at the park and upon seeing a baby bird on the ground had attempted to escape to put it back in the nest and refused to stop crying until it was safe. Grace bought one of the small transportation kennels that were sold there and left along with Simon.
"So, are you going to keep the cat?" Simon asked. Grace nodded.
"Yeah, I think I will. She's just so cute I can't help it." Grace justified. She looked at the tiny thing which had stopped meowing and now had her eyes open as the swelling had gone down. The kitten's tan fur hit the sunlight and Grace could swear that it was bathed in gold.
"I guess it is pretty cute." Simon said as he observed the same phenomenon. "Though, I think I'm more of a dog person. Cats are too flaky for my taste, dogs are loyal." he asserted. Grace shook her head at his assessment of the difference between cats and dogs.
"I think she's refined." Grace said looking at the animal once more. "I'm going to call her Cleopatra." Grace decided.
"A little on the nose in my opinion." Simon joked. Grace rolled her eyes as if she was unaffected but changed her answer anyway.
"Fine, Cleo for short then." she said. "A little less obvious?" she asked. Simon nodded.
"The subtlety has increased." he said. The two made their way back to the park where Grace called Peirce to pick the two up. Grace continued to coo over her new pet and Simon continued to list reasons why he thought dogs were superior but ultimately did relent in the fact that he was glad the two had saved the tiny kitten. Eventually Peirce pulled up and dropped the two at Grace's house where Simon's parents were already waiting for him. The two exchanged goodbyes and Grace prepared to beg her parents to keep the cat.
"Grace, how was the park?" her mother asked her over dinner. Grace had managed to sneak Cleo into her room without any of the staff or her parents noticing but she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep the cat a secret forever especially if she had to enact special procedures in order to raise a kitten that young.
"It was good. Actually, me and Simon found an abandoned kitten." she explained. "We took it to the vet near here." she added. Her father looked at her concerned.
"That's pretty far Grace, next time tell us before you leave the area you say you're going to be at." he said. Grace nodded and offered an apology.
"I'm sorry, I figured it was an emergency so I didn't think to call.' she explained. Her father waved her off.
"You don't need to apologize, just be more careful next time, kids are getting kidnapped out there." he explained. Grace nodded but mostly ignored this advice because in her opinion parents, but her's in particular, were far to concerned about her getting taken.
"I will." she explained. "Also, please don't be mad, but I took her home with me and named her Cleo. Can we please keep her?" Grace begged. Her mother let out a deep and tired sigh.
"Where is the cat Grace?" she asked. Grace recognized that they hadn't said no yet and considered it a good sign in terms of her chances of keeping Cleo.
"She's in my bedroom. But she's only three weeks old and her mother abandoned her because she was sick and if we don't take care of her she'll die." Grace said, still trying to guilt trip her parents into allowing the cat she'd grown attached to to stay. "I got the medicine she needs from the doctor and he told me how to take care of her and everything so I promise i'll do all the work." she said, still begging. Her parents shared a look as they talked with their eyes trying to decide what to do. Finally her mother spoke.
"I suppose as long as you are responsible enough to care for it you can keep the cat." she said. Grace wanted to jump up and down for joy at the news of getting to keep Cleo as a pet. Instead she said thank you a million times and finished dinner as fast as she could without choking so that she could go dote on her new pet. She fed the meowing kitten and gave her the antibiotic the doctor had prescribed. She pet and cooed over the little thing because she just couldn't help but adore small animals.
As Grace gently petted her kitten she wondered about what would have happened had she not saved her. Grace had mostly only said the stuff about the cat dying to be hyperbolic so that Simon would listen but maybe she was right. Or maybe someone else like her would have come along and taken the cat to safety on their own. Grace believed that for the most part people were good or at least tried to be. As she listened to the quiet little purr that Cleo emitted Grace decided that someone would have done it anyway.