‘Mom, please can I have a cat?’ ‘Dad, I can take care of a cat, I’m responsible!’ It’s been years and years of whining and crying just to get a cat. Well technically it’s been 4 years, but it’s a long time! Anyway, as I was saying, my parents didn’t want a cat because it was too much responsibility and also because my family travels a lot. I kept complaining and said I would take care of it myself, but the answer stayed no.‘We already told you why we don’t want a cat. You know perfectly well that we don’t have time to take care of it.’ So after a while I stopped asking.

One day, my family and I went out for lunch. After we took our order I had a feeling that our daily conversation is going to start. You know the one in which you start talking and it’s basically the topic for the rest of the day. My dad started by saying, ‘So, Ema, your mom and I have been thinking, since you had a great school report this year, that you deserve a gift. You have two choices. Either you get a Polaroid before summer’ a Polaroid is one of those cameras when you take a picture and it instantly comes out, ‘or, and we’ve asked your brothers permission, you could get a cat…’ I had to keep myself from screaming. I was

The holidays came and went quickly, and soon I was restarting school. I had almost forgotten about the fact that I was getting a cat. But I remembered, I mean how could I not, I was getting the thing I’ve been wanting for 4 years.

I was sitting on my friend’s bed one day and then I heard my phone ring. ‘Hi mom, what’s up?’ I asked, “Ema, we have to go see the cat today…” she answered “Oh mom, really? I think it’s better if we don’t go, because I’m going to get attached to it again and the person is going to say no, and I will be heartbroken again.” I said. It sounded pretty logical to me but my mom didn’t agree, she said we had to give this one a chance. So I went, trying to not feel hope at all.

“It’s getting late… And you have school tomorrow” my mom complained. I felt like this was a waste of time, I didn’t stand a chance.

After an hour of traffic, we finally arrived where this cat lived… He lived in a HDB.

In the elevator, my mom said, “If we can’t get this one, we aren’t getting one until christmas, because I don’t want to be doing this everyday and I still don’t know who is going to take care of it during christmas”

The lady standing at the doorstep had a big smile on her face. “Hi!” I say, “Hello, are you Nicky?” she asks my mom.As my mom and I enter the house, I get excited, but I’m still very careful to not fall for something that I won’t get. I look for the kitten, but I realize that it could be any one of those cats sitting on the couch. The woman was a real life crazy cat lady. She had at least 5 cats lying on her couch and two bunnies in a cage next to it.

The lady showed me the two kittens that were up for adoption and started telling us more about them. She mentioned that one of them was shyer than the other so I started playing with the playful one. It was so small and its tail had stripes on it. The kitten was as playful as the lady had said. He was also very brave because he came up to me as soon as I sat down on the couch, unlike his brother, who was shyer, and avoided my hand and ran away.

I carried the kitten like a baby and the he immediately stopped moving. I looked at my mom with a smile that went from ear to ear. He was comfortable with me. Then I turned to the lady and asked if I could have him, waiting for a ‘no’ like all the other times I went to see a cat I could adopt. But little did I know I already own the cat… Partially anyways. The lady didn’t even hesitate and said yes. It took me about 5 seconds to realize what she had just said and then immediately looked at my mom. She had a warm and proud smile on her face. The lady said that I could come back that Saturday because I had to buy everything for him. I went out of the apartment, I was the happiest person alive at that moment. ?

That night, I came home with the biggest smile on my face.