Random Acts of Kittens

by Yamile Saied Méndez

  I’d never been friends with Solange before, mainly because Meera didn’t like her much. Unlike everyone else in the school, Solange hadn’t ever bought a tub of slime from Slime Supreme. Instead, she made her own, but she’d never sold it or her secret sparkly formula. I’d always loved the way Solange painted her nails according to the seasons, and how the colors popped against her dark skin, darker than my sister’s. Now they were light blue with sparkles that looked like snow. She had a beautiful French accent that made her instantly cool and mysterious. She’d moved here from the island of Saint Martin, which was really close to Puerto Rico.

  She caught me staring at her nails, and I smiled sheepishly, afraid she’d think I was weird. But she smiled too and went back to her work. It must have been hard to attend school in a foreign language. I mean, I’d spoken English all my life, and school was still hard for me. For a while Mami had worried I was confused because she and Papi spoke Spanish, but Julieta never had any issues being bilingual.

  I’d never thought about how hard this all was for Solange before, and now I wished that instead of laughing when she pronounced a word the wrong way, I’d offered to help. I would’ve hated anyone who made fun of my parents or Beli. Why hadn’t I said anything to defend her when Meera and her friends laughed at her?

  The support group felt like a safe place. No one made fun of each other, and Mrs. Thomas seemed calmer than when she had to wrangle thirty loud students.

  Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last long. The first bell rang, and the bubble of safe space popped as the rest of the class stampeded in. While everyone settled, I caught the tail ends of conversations.

  “I’m going to apply for a kitten,” Andrew said, and I was so surprised to hear the words, I held my breath to hear better.

  But what he said next felt like a punch in the stomach. “My older brother used to shoot at cats up in the canyon. It’s a lot of fun.” He laughed, but I flinched.

  Shooting cats up in the canyon?

  Brigham, his friend, laughed and Andrew added, “With a pellet gun, mind you. It’s still fun.”

  “Bro, the kittens in the video are too small, though,” Brigham said. “Besides, what if you don’t get one? That application looked so complicated!”

  I didn’t know much about Andrew, but Brigham had been kind of a bully when we were in kindergarten. Whenever I complained about him, the teacher said he was like a puppy that didn’t know his own strength. One day, he pushed me off the swing. I turned around and jabbed him with a one-two-three to the stomach. He never bothered me again, but that’s how I ended up at the principal’s office for the first time.

  “Kittens are cute, and the ones in the video are adorable. But they grow up and turn into pests, you know what I mean?” Andrew continued.

  I looked at Andrew and Brigham in disbelief. A part of me wanted to hiss and spit at the boys like a mamacat. Brigham caught my eye, and his pale face reddened until he was the first one who looked away. He wasn’t that tough after all.

  Andrew noticed the silent war between Brigham and me. “What are you looking at, weirdo?” he asked me.

  The second bell rang before I could reply. Mrs. Thomas clapped her hands to call the class to attention, and Andrew, confusing my silence for weakness, smirked and whispered, “Loser.”

  A couple of rows away, Lilah watched the whole thing with a curious expression on her face.

  I looked down at my paper, but I couldn’t focus on math when I was so worried about the kittens. I couldn’t wait to go through the applications and delete Andrew’s as soon as I saw it.

  Maybe I should’ve let the shelter place the kittens, have an adult in charge. This was too hard. I had no idea some people “adopted” pets only to hurt them. If Andrew could be so cruel in public, what was he like in private? What if he got hold of one of my kittens? Or of any kitten for that matter?

  I was upset and worried all day long. At resource, after Mr. Warthon explained to me how fractions worked for like the twentieth time, and when he could tell I hadn’t understood anything, he patted my hand and said, “Color these pie charts. We’ll try again tomorrow, okay?”

  The effort of sitting through resource gave me a slight headache. Mr. Warthon was a good teacher, and maybe I’d been too distracted to give him my full attention. I needed to talk to Reuben, but he and Meera had been absorbed exchanging comments on a Barcelona soccer game, as if the goals Messi scored thousands of miles away mattered at all when I had five kittens to protect.

  Finally, when it was Meera’s turn to work with Mr. Warthon, I made signs to let Reuben know I needed to talk with him. He looked around, as if he were trying to find a way to walk in my direction without being told off. He dropped the pencil off his desk, point first, and it clattered dramatically.

  “Oops. I need to sharpen my pencil,” he said aloud, in the most obvious voice ever. Anyone could guess that he was trying to hide something.

  He stood next to the sharpener—which was conveniently next to my desk—and leaned in my direction. “Today, after school?” he whispered in such a loud voice that it carried all the way to Meera, who looked up in interest.

  “Don’t be so obvious,” I whispered, and in a louder voice, I added, “I’m busy with my grandmother after school. Sorry.”

  Reuben seemed confused, but I scribbled on my math paper: Yes, today after school.

  He nodded and went back to his seat and his assignment.

  But at the end of the class, I heard Meera ask Reuben, “Why do you spend every afternoon at her house? You haven’t come to my house in like forever.”

  “Nothing important,” Reuben said, obvious hesitation in his voice, his eyes flickering in my direction.

  Meera’s eyes got all misty. “Okay,” she said, and walked away.

  Reuben bit his lip. I didn’t know what to tell him, and before I could come up with something, he grabbed his backpack and ran after Meera.

  My heart fell all the way to my feet.

  For the first time in my life, I understood the concept of fractions. No matter whose side Reuben chose, our trio was broken. A whole broken into three parts. We’d never be one again. And I didn’t know how to fix this without asking Reuben to choose either Meera or me. I didn’t want to lose the only friend I had.

  Like the day before, I walked back home trailing Meera and her friends. I wondered if Bodhi had karate and that’s why he wasn’t walking home with her. No one else from the class lived on our street, so for the last couple blocks, after she waved Lilah and the other girls goodbye, it was just the two of us on the sidewalk.

  I hurried past the corner where the two brindled bulldogs lived, and when I saw Meera staring back at them over her shoulder, making sure they weren’t following her, I felt better. I wasn’t the only one scared of them.

  I kept hoping she’d slow down so we could, I don’t know, talk about what had happened with Slime Supreme. Iron things out, as Beli would say. The whole mess had happened so long ago, though, and Meera had had plenty of opportunities to apologize.

  It had been Meera’s fault. She should be the one to take the first step. She’d betrayed me—stolen the secret formula that was just mine and Papi’s. Why had she chosen to make the other kids happy and ignore how I felt?

  In the end, Meera walked into her house, and I went into mine. Would this continue until we moved away for college? The thought depressed me even more.

  “Gigi!” I called, and my beautiful, meowgical queen trotted over to say hi. In a heartbeat, she seemed to know how I was feeling. She quickly rubbed my leg with her head. As I pet her, some of the tension in my shoulders evaporated. I followed her back to the cattery, and at the sight of the kittens snuggling close to their mamacat, I wished my life were as simple as theirs. They were trying to wrestle each other, toppling, and rolling, their soft bellies pinkish and round.

  Since no one else was home, I lay down on the floor and let the kittens crawl over me. They purred over my chest, and I imagined
they were replacing the stress of school with love vibes. My eyes became heavy with sleep. I yawned loudly and the kittens got startled, their tiny claws poking through my T-shirt.

  “Ouch!” I complained, and one by one, I put them back in the nest. Now that I was finally alone, I could go through the applications in peace before Reuben arrived soon.

  When I woke up the old desktop, I was surprised to see the email notifications in the double digits.

  “Yes!” At the sound of Gigi’s feet padding toward me, I added, “Look at all the people who want a kitten, Queen G!”

  Gigi climbed onto her favorite perch on the shelf next to Papi’s picture and looked down at me with an expression that said, Let’s do this!

  The first email I opened wasn’t kitten-related, though. It was from Papi, and I read it quickly to make sure he was okay, and then went back to the beginning, putting more attention to reading between the lines.

  Nati, the kittens are growing so much! But my favorite one is the mom, Gigi. She’s so cute and I bet you once the kittens go to their homes, she’ll be super playful and fun. Keep the videos and pictures coming. They make me happy. Who would’ve thought that I’d become a person who watches kitten videos in between army assignments? Take care of Mami and be good!

  Con amor,

  Papi

  Papi didn’t always say much, but his presence was so huge, now I felt his absence like a toothache. I knew he would be on Team Gigi.

  Maybe he missed us—me—as much as I missed him. At least the kitten videos made him happy.

  Just when I was getting settled to go through the entries, Gigi jumped from the shelf and ran to the door. A second later, someone knocked. Before I could open it, Reuben’s voice came from the other side.

  “Knock, knock.”

  Did he really prepare all these silly jokes or think of them on the spot?

  “Who’s there?” I asked, really trying not to laugh.

  “Interrupting Cat.”

  Even Gigi looked at me with confusion in her eyes.

  “Interrup—”

  “Meow, meow, meow!”

  I opened the door as he laughed, but I made a show of keeping my face like a mask.

  “Interrupting cat, get it?” he said, walking in. The sun had come out, and the melting snow was dripping from the gutters.

  “Ah, I get it,” I said, my voice laced with sarcasm.

  He looked at me and shook his head. “No, you don’t, but it’s okay.” As I expected, he headed into the laundry and came back holding Johnnycakes, who stayed asleep in the crook of Reuben’s arm.

  “You’re going to spoil him, you know?” I asked, sitting down in front of the computer. “You need to socialize with all of them, not only Johnny. Isn’t that what you told me the other day?”

  Reuben rolled his eyes and went back to the laundry room. Seconds later, he was back with all the kittens. The babies meowed, but they settled quickly on Reuben’s lap. Johnny had the place of honor in his arms. Gigi sent him a warning look from the shelf.

  “I’ll be careful, your meowjesty, Queen Gigi,” he said, softly. “Don’t take them back, please.”

  He sat very still, petting Johnny, who hadn’t even noticed all his siblings had joined him.

  “There are thirty-seven applications,” I said, doing a little shimmy in the chair.

  Reuben gave me a thumbs-up through a big yawn. Not even five minutes, and the kittens were working their calming magic on him. “Read them,” he said, motioning me with a hand to continue.

  I scanned the applications as fast as I could, and when I saw Andrew’s entry, I gasped.

  “What is it?” Reuben asked, his eyes snapping open.

  In a few words, I told him about the conversation I’d heard between Andrew and Brigham.

  By the end, Reuben’s cheeks were bright red, his fist clenched tightly. “Those guys are the worst. Even if they don’t get a kitten, we need to tell someone that they think hurting animals is fun.”

  “Why would he even apply for a kitten?” I wondered angrily. My finger hovered over the delete button. “I’m not even going to read his answers.”

  “Ouch!” Reuben exclaimed, startling me so bad I pressed down on the delete button.

  “What happened?”

  Reuben winced as Johnnycakes kneaded his chest, his claws most likely going through the fabric of the Jazz jersey Reuben wore. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, but his nails are sharp!”

  “I know,” I said, leaning forward to look at the entries. Andrew’s was still there. Which one had I deleted? Oops.

  Reuben whispered something in Johnnycake’s ears that sounded like, “Take it easy, bro.”

  I tried not to laugh and kept reading a few entries that looked promising, like Jojo’s, whose application said she’d never had a pet but that her mom loved cats.

  “And listen!” I said, trying not to squeal. “She said she loves Care Bears and Harry looks just like one. I was just thinking that this morning!”

  “File her in the maybes, then,” Reuben said just as I clicked on the print button. My only answer was the cha-cha-piiiing of the printer.

  “Smart,” Reuben said. “You can go over them carefully if they’re printed out.”

  “Oh! Here’s Meera!” I exclaimed when I saw the name on the next application.

  Once again, Reuben’s cheeks flamed, but this time, it wasn’t with indignation like when he’d heard about Andrew.

  “She’s applying for Bodhi,” I said, trying to compose myself as I scanned the rest of the answers.

  An uncomfortable silence fell around us. Gigi meowed and twitched her nose.

  “Of course she is,” Reuben said, the expert on all things Meera. “What else did she write?”

  I narrowed my eyes, pretending I had a hard time reading the answers. Maybe I shouldn’t have told Reuben about Meera applying for a kitten. Maybe I should’ve deleted her entry, but the image of Bodhi meowing when he told me how he missed Cap made me feel bad I’d even considered taking him out of the race for a kitten.

  I bit my lip and skimmed quickly. “She says her brother has wanted a kitten all his life … that they want a cuddly kitten.”

  “For Bodhi it has to be the cuddliest,” Reuben said. He blushed. “You’d better consider them, Natalia.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Part of me had hoped that he’d say I didn’t need to consider Meera if I didn’t want to, or I don’t know, that I was his favorite friend. Instead, the silence made me think that he didn’t feel safe telling me what he really thought. There was a barrier between Reuben and me. I wished he’d tell one of his silly jokes, but his face looked like his thoughts were a whirlwind.

  I wasn’t ready to give in yet, but I went along in case my friendship with Reuben depended on what I decided to do with Meera’s application.

  “Johnnycakes?” I asked, uncertain.

  Reuben shook his head, alarmed. “No, Bodhi would go better with Max. She’s tiny and gentle and needs the extra attention. You know Bodhi. He’ll be pretending she’s a magical kitten for the rest of eternity.”

  The big sigh that escaped me didn’t take out all the tension cramping up my shoulders, but I hoped Reuben would understand how hard this situation was for me. “I mean, he calls himself el Niño Gato, so he’d be a perfect candidate. But he’s Meera’s brother …”

  Reuben looked up at me and I didn’t like the expression on his face. It was too late to take my words back, though. He wouldn’t side with Meera now, would he?

  “So, let me get this straight,” he said, and I braced myself for his next words. “You’re going to hurt Bodhi’s feelings and dash his hopes of getting a kitten just because you’re not talking to Meera?”

  “It sounds really bad when you say it that way, Reuben. What I mean is, her actions from last year have to have consequences. She hurt my feelings first, in case you forgot.”

  “She tried to explain,” Reuben said, and when he slapped his hand on
the ground, Johnnycakes flinched.

  “Aha! Why don’t you just say it already? You’re on her side too, like the rest of the school.”

  The kittens were all awake, alert at the words flying back and forth. Reuben must have noticed the tension was like water boiling in Beli’s teakettle because he took a long, shuddering breath and said, “Listen, it’s already hard enough not to tell Meera I know all about the kittens and Kitten Cupid. She’s already upset because I asked you about meeting after school.”

  “But I said I couldn’t after school, which is why you had to come kind of late.”

  “But here we are,” Reuben said, carefully holding all the kittens and standing up.

  He didn’t add, And I lied to her, but I heard it all the same.

  “I don’t like hiding things from Meera,” Reuben said. “She’s my friend too. How would you feel in her place?”

  The vibe in the room was electric. It was clear Reuben wanted to be friends with both of us. But then why was he looking at me like I was the bad guy in the movie? I loved Bodhi, but I would never forgive Meera for not putting our friendship first when the other girls pressured us to reveal Caribbean Blue’s recipe. How was that so hard for Reuben to understand?

  Without another word, Reuben stood up and took the kittens to the laundry. I let him seethe in peace, mainly because I needed a moment to collect myself too. Meanwhile, I kept going through the entries. Solange’s name wasn’t there, not even applying for someone else, and I was low-key disappointed. Okay, I was high-key disappointed. The fact that she hadn’t applied didn’t automatically mean she didn’t like me—no one but Reuben knew I was the Kitten Cupid. But she seemed like the kind of person who liked cats, just like Bodhi.

  Bodhi. How could I ever leave him out no matter how I felt about his sister? I didn’t know what to do. Just in case, I printed Meera’s entry so I could look it over carefully when I was calmer and Reuben wasn’t around to make me feel like the worst person in the world.