FLOWERS AND FUR
TAYLOR
Taylor walked into Stems, not really wanting to be there. Flower shops felt so girly and he felt so
uncomfortably out of place. Immediately he was greeted by an older woman, obviously one of the owners. "Well, we're just brimming with Hansons this week, aren't we?" The woman smiled and she seemed nice enough, but really, Tay just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts.
He smiled nervously. "Uh, yeah. I guess so."
"I'm assuming that was your fiancée that came in with Nikki the other day."
"It was."
"So what brings you in today? Do you need an arrangement to take home? Did you have a fight? Surprising her? Did you break something she doesn't know about yet?"
"Uh, actually I'm just kinda browsing for a few minutes."
The woman looked at him in thought and nodded. "Okay, then. If you need some help, I'll be right behind the counter over there."
Grateful to be left alone again, he began to browse the flowers. He was instantly frustrated. If she didn't pick anything out before, what the hell would he be able to come up with in here? There was obviously nothing here she was all that interested in or else she would have picked something out. The truth was, he had no idea what he was looking for. He didn't know what colors she wanted or what she envisioned when she saw their wedding. He didn't even know what HE envisioned. Whenever he thought of their wedding, the only thing he could see was her. To be honest, he didn't really care what was going on around them, as long as the officiant was pronouncing them husband and wife.
A few flowers caught his eye here and there. Nothing really spoke to him, but he snapped a few pictures with his phone, nonetheless. The obligatory lily was always a classic selection. Roses, peonies...he stayed far away from the daisies and the sunflowers and things of that nature. He always felt that such flowers didn't belong in weddings and, thankfully, Mel shared the same sentiment.
He was just starting to get in the spirit and wondering if some of the flowers he was looking at could possibly be available in different colors, when he heard a small commotion starting up at the check-out counter. Momentarily distracted, he looked up just in time to see an older, balding man in a store apron carrying a small stuffed animal in from outside. Except that the stuffed animal cried--loudly. And it took a moment for Tay to realize that the animal wasn't a toy, but that it was real--very real and very tiny.
The older woman and two more female employees seemed to appear at the counter like magic and the ooh-ing and aah-ing was instantaneous. "I can't believe he let me pick him up this time," the man was saying. "I found him out in the dumpster again."
"Oh, that poor thing," the older woman said, petting the animal's head as it continued to cry. "Any sign of the mother? Or litter mates?"
"Not a one," the man answered. "I've kept an eye out for a couple of days but there's absolutely no sign of any other animals but this little guy. He's so tiny, he looks a little too young to be already weaned but he seems to be surviving okay. I've really just been concerned because of how cold it's been these past couple of nights."
Before Tay realized it, he found himself walking toward the small congregation as their discussion turned from pity to who would take the thing home for the night. He smiled as he neared them, eyeing the small, gray tabby that shrieked in the man's hands. "Hey, Mr. Hanson! What can we help you with?" the man's voice said, trying to be heard over the kitten.
"Whatcha got there?" Tay asked him.
"Stray," the man said. "Little fella's been hanging out in our dumpster for the past few days. He only just let me get ahold of him today."
"What are you gonna do with him?"
"Don't know yet. None of us can take him home for good. We could foster him for a night or two, but beyond that it looks bleak. It's hard to give away a cat nowadays, you know?"
"Yeah..." Tay said, somberly. The man was right. His heart went out to the pathetic creature. "Can I hold him?"
"Sure," the man said, gladly handing the kitten over. "Looks to be maybe a month old or so. Barely has any teeth, it looks like."
Tay held the kitten up and it shrieked louder, only taking very brief breaks. He had to chuckle. The poor little guy was pissed and he was all hair. He was pissed and he was scared and everyone was gonna know it or else. He reminded him of Mel.
Mel!
The light bulb blazed above his head and his heart warmed as he realized this fuzzy, gray cat had just found himself home.
Minutes later, Taylor was driving down the road with a shrieking kitten in the passenger seat. He was in no way prepared to have an animal in his SUV and the few paper towels the florist provided him were being completely ignored in favor of a daring climb up the back of the passenger seat. He glanced
at the kitten, defeated. There was just nothing he could do about it.
As he drove, his phone rang. "So how'd it go?" Ike asked on the other end.
"Uh..."
"Tay, what IS that? Where are you?" Ike was obviously referring to the loud, piercing scream being directed at Taylor's other ear.
"Uh, so I didn't exactly end up with flowers..."
"Did you take a detour to the zoo?"
Tay wanted to laugh, but this was neither the time nor the place for jokes. He glanced over at the kitten who was now on the top of the passenger seat, holding on for dear life with all four sets of claws, shrieking its head off. He kinda didn't have time to talk to Ike right now. "I found a kitten. At the florist."
"You did what? Tay, I said 'flowers' not 'four legs!' "
"Ha ha. No, I think I did good this time. I'd rather come home with an orphaned animal than the wrong flower. Trust me."
"There you go. Skip her heart and go straight for the gut."
"Gut-wrenching is what I do best."
"You know, once the boys catch wind of this you'll never get rid of them. They've been begging for a pet for months."
"So get them one! Get a dog. Boys need dogs."
"I thought this was about you?"
Tay laughed. "Look, I gotta go. I have a banshee in my car pretending it's on Mount Everest or something. I gotta keep an eye on him till I get home."
"Have fun," Ike said.
Minutes later, parked in the driveway, Tay was prying the tiny kitten off the top of the passenger seat as it hissed and growled at him. He could only laugh. There was nothing intimidating about this thing whatsoever. The only thing he was nervous about was whether Mel would be as welcoming of this new addition to their household as he was.
______________________________________________
MEL
Mel's body tensed up as she heard the front door open and close in the foyer. That was the one trait she hated about herself--she was a grudge-holder. She couldn't help it. She didn't want to be a grudge-holder. It's just how she was.
The tension was short lived when Tay rounded the corner of the sofa, cuddling a small, gray, tabby kitten. Whatever it was she had been upset about was immediately replaced with shock and the instant melting of her
currently icy heart.
Wasting no time, Mel stood and took the kitten from him. "Oh my god! Who is this?"
"Uh, I found him..."
"Where? At the studio?"
"Um, no. At, uh, at Stems."
Mel looked up at Tay in confusion. "What were you doing at Stems?"
"I went to see about flowers--for the wedding. I mean, just to browse and see what I liked, you know..."
That was it. Mel was putty. She completely melted and smiled at him. "Tay! You went to look for wedding flowers? I can't believe you."
"Yeah, well, I went for flowers and left with that."
Mel hugged the kitten close in defense. "He's not a 'that' he's a 'him.' At least I think he is..." Mel turned the kitten around and lifted its tail, moving the hair around its butt so she could see. "Hm. Too soon to tell..."
"So we don't know if it's male or female?"
"I'm pretty sure it's a boy but it's kinda up in the air right now."
"What do you want to call him?"
"Don't know yet. The first thing he needs is to be cleaned. And fed. And--Tay, we don't have anything for him! We have to take him to the pet store!"
"Oh, no. No, no, no. That cat does not need to be in another vehicle--"
"But what about taking him to the vet?"
"Well--"
"He'll need a carrier. And supplies. We need to go shopping. We can't leave him alone here, he'll get separation anxiety. And judging by the way he sounds now, he probably already has it. Ooh, I know! You go to the store. I'll make a list. But make it quick, the poor baby's probably starving to death."
Swiftly, Mel wrote out a list of basics the kitten would need--food, litter, litter box, toys, shampoo..."Here. Make sure the box is small and make sure the food is strictly kitten food. Get some dry and some wet. And kitten milk, too! And while you're doing that, I'll make the vet appointment. Oh, and get a carrier, too. He'll need something to ride to the vet in."
"Uh, look, Mel, about today..."
Mel waved him off as she carried the kitten toward the bathroom. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're forgiven. Now hurry and leave so you can get back. He needs the stuff on that list."
By the time Tay left, Mel had already forgotten she was engaged.
___________________________________________________________
TAYLOR
Taylor wasn't really sure how he felt about all this. All it took was a cat for her to forgive him for being a douchebag? Hell, at this rate they'd have a zillion cats by the time they got married. And who knew how
many more after?
On a more serious note, though, should they have talked about what happened in the meeting that day? Was it a good idea to just be over it that easily? Surely not. She didn't seem stressed about it, so why was he? Maybe because he was guilty? Or maybe because he knew it was still coming. It had to be. He decided to continue to be on his toes and maybe a step ahead of Mel from now until--whenever.
He came home a little while later to a quiet house. Admittedly, he was surprised. He wasn't sure why he expected the little cat to still be screeching but he figured it had to shut up eventually. He walked in the
living room to find Mel curled up on the sofa with a throw blanket in her lap and the baby kitten snoozing inside the blanket. Tay relished in the silence.
"Shh," Mel whispered. "Thank you. Just set the bags in the kitchen, I'll unpack them in a little bit."
"Mel, I don't think the sound of my voice is gonna wake it up. It's a baby. Babies sleep pretty hard."
"Stop calling him 'it.' Besides, I'm not taking any chances."
"He's had a rough day, what with being plucked from a dumpster, riding in the car, and you bathing him. He'll be out for a couple hours, guaranteed."
Mel patted the sofa cushion next to her. "Come sit with us."
As he sat next to her and the snoozing fur ball, the two of them silently stared at their Christmas tree. Breaking the silence, Mel said, "He needs an ornament."
Tay's palm met his face and he shook his head.
-------------------------------------------
Fred.
She named the cat Fred.
She actually named him Frederick von Kittenton Hanson, and Taylor had to stand there at the vet while she insisted that they put the name on the poor animal's record. This was a brand new side of Mel he had never
seen before and it was both embarrassing and totally adorable all at the same time.
She claimed to have named him Fred in hopes to have an Ethel to join him someday. Taylor insisted it would be no time soon and that this was just a freak occurrence. This led to an argument about his gross disdain for cats and her accusing him of being an animal hater--none of which was actually true. Tay didn't know what her deal was, but he wondered if introducing this kitten into their home sparked some kind of nurturing gene in her she hadn't been aware of before. He didn't dare say this out loud.
Tay found himself shaking his head quite frequently for the next week. Mel had insisted on staying home from 3CG for the week to take care of the thing and the poor thing probably had never felt the floor under its feet
since he brought it home. She carried that damn thing everywhere. EVERYWHERE. World War Three ensued when the subject of a cat bed came up. Mel wasn't having it. Fred slept in the bed with them and Mel would freak out every time Tay moved, in fear that he would roll over on top of him. It was getting exhausting to the point where Tay was seriously considering sleeping in one of the guest rooms.
However, it was also kind of cute to watch her with the cat. He had never seen Mel mother anything in her life and the side that this cat brought out of her was kind of heart-warming, as annoying as it could be at times.
The fact that Tay wanted children someday had still never changed and this restored a much-needed hope in his heart that all was not lost after all. After his divorce, his spirit and trust in the inner-workings of the female body and brain had taken a serious hit and he knew Mel was very careful to tiptoe around the subject of children. They didn't talk about it seriously, only in passing. But Tay thought that maybe sometime soon he could readily bring it all out in the open and finally have a serious conversation about it.
But for the time being, however, he confided in his brothers. "I may or may not have made a mistake with this whole cat thing."
Zac snorted a laugh. Tay shot him a Look.
Ike shook his head. "Only you would walk into a flower shop and leave with a cat."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time..."
"Just let her have her cat," Zac said. "Don't read too much into it. If she loves the thing, then just let it go. You're thinking too much, that's your problem."
"Maybe."
"Do you not like the cat? Better yet, are you jealous of the cat?" Ike teased.
Tay curled his lip in disgust at his older brother. "I am not JEALOUS of the cat. But she just--I don't know, she's kinda crazy over it."
"We're talking about Mel. She was crazy to begin with."
"Ike..." Zac warned.
"Well, I mean, not in a crazy Natalie sort of way..."
Choosing to ignore his brothers instead of starting a fight, Tay continued. "It sleeps with us, it eats with us--she even carries it with her to the bathroom. And it sleeps in my scarves. I don't want that becoming a habit."
"If you picked your shit up off the floor once in awhile there wouldn't be a habit to form," Zac said, matter-of-factly.
"You know, can I have at least one conversation with you guys without being the butt of a joke?"
"Okay, okay, fine," Ike said. "Tay, you brought a month-old kitten into your home. It's a baby. Babies need to be raised and it sounds like Mel is simply bonding with it. Welcome to parenthood, furry or not. And a word of advice to you: You might want to consider bonding with it, too, so that it doesn't go from sleeping in your scarves to pissing in them. Just saying."
"Look," Zac offered. "Before Abe was born--well before Kate was even pregnant--we got the dog. As a puppy. You remember. Kate was the same way with it--mostly. She was all about that puppy, almost more
than our kids. It's a--it's a woman/baby/puppy thing, I don't know. I think it's the newness of it or something. I promise, after a little time, the crazy will subside and the cat will just be a normal part of your family. Besides, you think this is bad? You wait till she has a kid. There's real hormones and shit in that. Shit gets real. Enjoy the crazy cat lady while you can."
"So you're saying I shouldn't worry about the fact that this cat has no idea what our floor feels like, or no idea how it feels to even walk? It probably doesn't even know how to walk anymore. I probably need to look into physical therapy to teach it..."
"Tay, it's a month old cat," Ike said. "Even I would probably be the same way with it. It left its mother too soon."
"Ike, are you sympathizing?"
"Are you, yet again, making a mountain out of a mole hill?"
"Look, I just want to know if I've inadvertently brought out a new side of crazy in her that may never go away. THAT is the point of this whole cat thing."
"Women are crazy in general," Zac said. "I really don't think you have anything to worry about."
Tay tried to feel better after talking with his brothers. So why did he feel the need to make up for something he hadn't actually done? Was it habit? Was it healthy that this feeling was habit? Maybe he just needed to keep himself in check a little more often. And start cozying up to that damn cat.
TAYLOR
Taylor walked into Stems, not really wanting to be there. Flower shops felt so girly and he felt so
uncomfortably out of place. Immediately he was greeted by an older woman, obviously one of the owners. "Well, we're just brimming with Hansons this week, aren't we?" The woman smiled and she seemed nice enough, but really, Tay just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts.
He smiled nervously. "Uh, yeah. I guess so."
"I'm assuming that was your fiancée that came in with Nikki the other day."
"It was."
"So what brings you in today? Do you need an arrangement to take home? Did you have a fight? Surprising her? Did you break something she doesn't know about yet?"
"Uh, actually I'm just kinda browsing for a few minutes."
The woman looked at him in thought and nodded. "Okay, then. If you need some help, I'll be right behind the counter over there."
Grateful to be left alone again, he began to browse the flowers. He was instantly frustrated. If she didn't pick anything out before, what the hell would he be able to come up with in here? There was obviously nothing here she was all that interested in or else she would have picked something out. The truth was, he had no idea what he was looking for. He didn't know what colors she wanted or what she envisioned when she saw their wedding. He didn't even know what HE envisioned. Whenever he thought of their wedding, the only thing he could see was her. To be honest, he didn't really care what was going on around them, as long as the officiant was pronouncing them husband and wife.
A few flowers caught his eye here and there. Nothing really spoke to him, but he snapped a few pictures with his phone, nonetheless. The obligatory lily was always a classic selection. Roses, peonies...he stayed far away from the daisies and the sunflowers and things of that nature. He always felt that such flowers didn't belong in weddings and, thankfully, Mel shared the same sentiment.
He was just starting to get in the spirit and wondering if some of the flowers he was looking at could possibly be available in different colors, when he heard a small commotion starting up at the check-out counter. Momentarily distracted, he looked up just in time to see an older, balding man in a store apron carrying a small stuffed animal in from outside. Except that the stuffed animal cried--loudly. And it took a moment for Tay to realize that the animal wasn't a toy, but that it was real--very real and very tiny.
The older woman and two more female employees seemed to appear at the counter like magic and the ooh-ing and aah-ing was instantaneous. "I can't believe he let me pick him up this time," the man was saying. "I found him out in the dumpster again."
"Oh, that poor thing," the older woman said, petting the animal's head as it continued to cry. "Any sign of the mother? Or litter mates?"
"Not a one," the man answered. "I've kept an eye out for a couple of days but there's absolutely no sign of any other animals but this little guy. He's so tiny, he looks a little too young to be already weaned but he seems to be surviving okay. I've really just been concerned because of how cold it's been these past couple of nights."
Before Tay realized it, he found himself walking toward the small congregation as their discussion turned from pity to who would take the thing home for the night. He smiled as he neared them, eyeing the small, gray tabby that shrieked in the man's hands. "Hey, Mr. Hanson! What can we help you with?" the man's voice said, trying to be heard over the kitten.
"Whatcha got there?" Tay asked him.
"Stray," the man said. "Little fella's been hanging out in our dumpster for the past few days. He only just let me get ahold of him today."
"What are you gonna do with him?"
"Don't know yet. None of us can take him home for good. We could foster him for a night or two, but beyond that it looks bleak. It's hard to give away a cat nowadays, you know?"
"Yeah..." Tay said, somberly. The man was right. His heart went out to the pathetic creature. "Can I hold him?"
"Sure," the man said, gladly handing the kitten over. "Looks to be maybe a month old or so. Barely has any teeth, it looks like."
Tay held the kitten up and it shrieked louder, only taking very brief breaks. He had to chuckle. The poor little guy was pissed and he was all hair. He was pissed and he was scared and everyone was gonna know it or else. He reminded him of Mel.
Mel!
The light bulb blazed above his head and his heart warmed as he realized this fuzzy, gray cat had just found himself home.
Minutes later, Taylor was driving down the road with a shrieking kitten in the passenger seat. He was in no way prepared to have an animal in his SUV and the few paper towels the florist provided him were being completely ignored in favor of a daring climb up the back of the passenger seat. He glanced
at the kitten, defeated. There was just nothing he could do about it.
As he drove, his phone rang. "So how'd it go?" Ike asked on the other end.
"Uh..."
"Tay, what IS that? Where are you?" Ike was obviously referring to the loud, piercing scream being directed at Taylor's other ear.
"Uh, so I didn't exactly end up with flowers..."
"Did you take a detour to the zoo?"
Tay wanted to laugh, but this was neither the time nor the place for jokes. He glanced over at the kitten who was now on the top of the passenger seat, holding on for dear life with all four sets of claws, shrieking its head off. He kinda didn't have time to talk to Ike right now. "I found a kitten. At the florist."
"You did what? Tay, I said 'flowers' not 'four legs!' "
"Ha ha. No, I think I did good this time. I'd rather come home with an orphaned animal than the wrong flower. Trust me."
"There you go. Skip her heart and go straight for the gut."
"Gut-wrenching is what I do best."
"You know, once the boys catch wind of this you'll never get rid of them. They've been begging for a pet for months."
"So get them one! Get a dog. Boys need dogs."
"I thought this was about you?"
Tay laughed. "Look, I gotta go. I have a banshee in my car pretending it's on Mount Everest or something. I gotta keep an eye on him till I get home."
"Have fun," Ike said.
Minutes later, parked in the driveway, Tay was prying the tiny kitten off the top of the passenger seat as it hissed and growled at him. He could only laugh. There was nothing intimidating about this thing whatsoever. The only thing he was nervous about was whether Mel would be as welcoming of this new addition to their household as he was.
______________________________________________
MEL
Mel's body tensed up as she heard the front door open and close in the foyer. That was the one trait she hated about herself--she was a grudge-holder. She couldn't help it. She didn't want to be a grudge-holder. It's just how she was.
The tension was short lived when Tay rounded the corner of the sofa, cuddling a small, gray, tabby kitten. Whatever it was she had been upset about was immediately replaced with shock and the instant melting of her
currently icy heart.
Wasting no time, Mel stood and took the kitten from him. "Oh my god! Who is this?"
"Uh, I found him..."
"Where? At the studio?"
"Um, no. At, uh, at Stems."
Mel looked up at Tay in confusion. "What were you doing at Stems?"
"I went to see about flowers--for the wedding. I mean, just to browse and see what I liked, you know..."
That was it. Mel was putty. She completely melted and smiled at him. "Tay! You went to look for wedding flowers? I can't believe you."
"Yeah, well, I went for flowers and left with that."
Mel hugged the kitten close in defense. "He's not a 'that' he's a 'him.' At least I think he is..." Mel turned the kitten around and lifted its tail, moving the hair around its butt so she could see. "Hm. Too soon to tell..."
"So we don't know if it's male or female?"
"I'm pretty sure it's a boy but it's kinda up in the air right now."
"What do you want to call him?"
"Don't know yet. The first thing he needs is to be cleaned. And fed. And--Tay, we don't have anything for him! We have to take him to the pet store!"
"Oh, no. No, no, no. That cat does not need to be in another vehicle--"
"But what about taking him to the vet?"
"Well--"
"He'll need a carrier. And supplies. We need to go shopping. We can't leave him alone here, he'll get separation anxiety. And judging by the way he sounds now, he probably already has it. Ooh, I know! You go to the store. I'll make a list. But make it quick, the poor baby's probably starving to death."
Swiftly, Mel wrote out a list of basics the kitten would need--food, litter, litter box, toys, shampoo..."Here. Make sure the box is small and make sure the food is strictly kitten food. Get some dry and some wet. And kitten milk, too! And while you're doing that, I'll make the vet appointment. Oh, and get a carrier, too. He'll need something to ride to the vet in."
"Uh, look, Mel, about today..."
Mel waved him off as she carried the kitten toward the bathroom. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're forgiven. Now hurry and leave so you can get back. He needs the stuff on that list."
By the time Tay left, Mel had already forgotten she was engaged.
___________________________________________________________
TAYLOR
Taylor wasn't really sure how he felt about all this. All it took was a cat for her to forgive him for being a douchebag? Hell, at this rate they'd have a zillion cats by the time they got married. And who knew how
many more after?
On a more serious note, though, should they have talked about what happened in the meeting that day? Was it a good idea to just be over it that easily? Surely not. She didn't seem stressed about it, so why was he? Maybe because he was guilty? Or maybe because he knew it was still coming. It had to be. He decided to continue to be on his toes and maybe a step ahead of Mel from now until--whenever.
He came home a little while later to a quiet house. Admittedly, he was surprised. He wasn't sure why he expected the little cat to still be screeching but he figured it had to shut up eventually. He walked in the
living room to find Mel curled up on the sofa with a throw blanket in her lap and the baby kitten snoozing inside the blanket. Tay relished in the silence.
"Shh," Mel whispered. "Thank you. Just set the bags in the kitchen, I'll unpack them in a little bit."
"Mel, I don't think the sound of my voice is gonna wake it up. It's a baby. Babies sleep pretty hard."
"Stop calling him 'it.' Besides, I'm not taking any chances."
"He's had a rough day, what with being plucked from a dumpster, riding in the car, and you bathing him. He'll be out for a couple hours, guaranteed."
Mel patted the sofa cushion next to her. "Come sit with us."
As he sat next to her and the snoozing fur ball, the two of them silently stared at their Christmas tree. Breaking the silence, Mel said, "He needs an ornament."
Tay's palm met his face and he shook his head.
-------------------------------------------
Fred.
She named the cat Fred.
She actually named him Frederick von Kittenton Hanson, and Taylor had to stand there at the vet while she insisted that they put the name on the poor animal's record. This was a brand new side of Mel he had never
seen before and it was both embarrassing and totally adorable all at the same time.
She claimed to have named him Fred in hopes to have an Ethel to join him someday. Taylor insisted it would be no time soon and that this was just a freak occurrence. This led to an argument about his gross disdain for cats and her accusing him of being an animal hater--none of which was actually true. Tay didn't know what her deal was, but he wondered if introducing this kitten into their home sparked some kind of nurturing gene in her she hadn't been aware of before. He didn't dare say this out loud.
Tay found himself shaking his head quite frequently for the next week. Mel had insisted on staying home from 3CG for the week to take care of the thing and the poor thing probably had never felt the floor under its feet
since he brought it home. She carried that damn thing everywhere. EVERYWHERE. World War Three ensued when the subject of a cat bed came up. Mel wasn't having it. Fred slept in the bed with them and Mel would freak out every time Tay moved, in fear that he would roll over on top of him. It was getting exhausting to the point where Tay was seriously considering sleeping in one of the guest rooms.
However, it was also kind of cute to watch her with the cat. He had never seen Mel mother anything in her life and the side that this cat brought out of her was kind of heart-warming, as annoying as it could be at times.
The fact that Tay wanted children someday had still never changed and this restored a much-needed hope in his heart that all was not lost after all. After his divorce, his spirit and trust in the inner-workings of the female body and brain had taken a serious hit and he knew Mel was very careful to tiptoe around the subject of children. They didn't talk about it seriously, only in passing. But Tay thought that maybe sometime soon he could readily bring it all out in the open and finally have a serious conversation about it.
But for the time being, however, he confided in his brothers. "I may or may not have made a mistake with this whole cat thing."
Zac snorted a laugh. Tay shot him a Look.
Ike shook his head. "Only you would walk into a flower shop and leave with a cat."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time..."
"Just let her have her cat," Zac said. "Don't read too much into it. If she loves the thing, then just let it go. You're thinking too much, that's your problem."
"Maybe."
"Do you not like the cat? Better yet, are you jealous of the cat?" Ike teased.
Tay curled his lip in disgust at his older brother. "I am not JEALOUS of the cat. But she just--I don't know, she's kinda crazy over it."
"We're talking about Mel. She was crazy to begin with."
"Ike..." Zac warned.
"Well, I mean, not in a crazy Natalie sort of way..."
Choosing to ignore his brothers instead of starting a fight, Tay continued. "It sleeps with us, it eats with us--she even carries it with her to the bathroom. And it sleeps in my scarves. I don't want that becoming a habit."
"If you picked your shit up off the floor once in awhile there wouldn't be a habit to form," Zac said, matter-of-factly.
"You know, can I have at least one conversation with you guys without being the butt of a joke?"
"Okay, okay, fine," Ike said. "Tay, you brought a month-old kitten into your home. It's a baby. Babies need to be raised and it sounds like Mel is simply bonding with it. Welcome to parenthood, furry or not. And a word of advice to you: You might want to consider bonding with it, too, so that it doesn't go from sleeping in your scarves to pissing in them. Just saying."
"Look," Zac offered. "Before Abe was born--well before Kate was even pregnant--we got the dog. As a puppy. You remember. Kate was the same way with it--mostly. She was all about that puppy, almost more
than our kids. It's a--it's a woman/baby/puppy thing, I don't know. I think it's the newness of it or something. I promise, after a little time, the crazy will subside and the cat will just be a normal part of your family. Besides, you think this is bad? You wait till she has a kid. There's real hormones and shit in that. Shit gets real. Enjoy the crazy cat lady while you can."
"So you're saying I shouldn't worry about the fact that this cat has no idea what our floor feels like, or no idea how it feels to even walk? It probably doesn't even know how to walk anymore. I probably need to look into physical therapy to teach it..."
"Tay, it's a month old cat," Ike said. "Even I would probably be the same way with it. It left its mother too soon."
"Ike, are you sympathizing?"
"Are you, yet again, making a mountain out of a mole hill?"
"Look, I just want to know if I've inadvertently brought out a new side of crazy in her that may never go away. THAT is the point of this whole cat thing."
"Women are crazy in general," Zac said. "I really don't think you have anything to worry about."
Tay tried to feel better after talking with his brothers. So why did he feel the need to make up for something he hadn't actually done? Was it habit? Was it healthy that this feeling was habit? Maybe he just needed to keep himself in check a little more often. And start cozying up to that damn cat.