Random Acts of Kittens

by Yamile Saied Méndez

  The machine came to life, but then a terrible beeping sound broke the silence.

  “No!” I said, jumping from my chair and running to the printer to check what was wrong. “Don’t give up on me now, printer!”

  The screen flashed with a low yellow ink warning.

  “I don’t want to print in yellow! It’s black. All black words!” I said, punching buttons to override the message. But the words kept flashing.

  “Reuben,” I called over my shoulder, feeling frustrated about more than just the printer.

  Reuben came out of the laundry room with a sad expression on his face that I didn’t know how to read.

  “Can you help?” I pointed at the computer. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m trying to print out—”

  His phone buzzed. He answered, and even feet away, I could hear his mom’s voice.

  “Bueno, Mamá,” he said. “Heading back now.”

  There was a rapid-fire reply on the other side, and through clenched teeth, he said, “Bueno. Ahora vuelvo, I said.” Pause. “Mami,” he added in a softer voice.

  By the annoyed expression on his face, I could tell his mom must have been on a Spanish-only kick. Mami hadn’t been on me about speaking only Spanish for a few weeks, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t coming for me too.

  I gave Reuben a smile of sympathy, but he seemed too out of sorts to smile back. “I gotta go,” he said. “The kittens will need shallow litter boxes soon, FYI. I think Harry just went on the blanket. You’ll have to change it before it smells.”

  I tsked. Things were getting to be interesting while Gigi hopefully potty-trained the kittens. “Okay, I’ll do that, and then I’ll finish the applications. People have until the thirty-first anyway. So … see you here tomorrow?”

  Reuben was already heading out the door. “I can’t. If I come over three days in a row, Meera will get suspicious. She’ll start asking questions, and I don’t want to lie to her.”

  All I heard was that there was a huge chance he’d tell Meera about everything.

  In typical Natalia fashion, I reacted by bringing out fang and claw. “If you tell her it’s me behind the kittens, she will tell the whole school just like she posted my secret recipe, and then everyone will know—”

  Reuben opened the door but turned around and said, “Do you really not trust me at all? You can’t imagine how hard it’s been standing in the middle of you two.”

  A worm of unease burrowed into my stomach, and I hated the image that popped in my mind. Reuben being pulled from side to side.

  “She’ll understand.”

  Reuben just stared back and I squirmed. Wanting to change the subject, I said, “Look, I had this great idea for tomorrow. I think it will be cute to do a kitten Olympics event on live FAstro to show their personalities better. I want people to be able to pick which one they’ll get along with best. What do you think?”

  Reuben chewed on his bottom lip and said, “Sure, but we probably shouldn’t try to do that for another two or three weeks. The kittens need to be confident on their feet and running around.”

  “Okay, then,” I said, shrugging one shoulder. “Three weeks, to make sure. That’s after Beli leaves.” When he didn’t react, I said in a singsongy voice, “No quesitos.”

  “It’s okay,” he said, and left without making a single joke.

  Just as he was leaving, practically running away from my house, Mami and Beli were coming back. Even from the front door, I could see their unhappy faces as Mami headed to the carport. They’d been arguing.

  Great. Just what I needed.

  Mami and Beli brought the chill of a polar vortex with them. Even Gigi felt the bad vibes and, after a quick glance at the situation, darted into the laundry, where she stayed away from the drama. She was a smart girl.

  As soon as she came in, Mami saw the printer flashing.

  “Natalia!” she called in a loud voice that would definitely count as yelling if I used it. “Stop printing things out! We can’t keep up with the toner, which isn’t exactly cheap, young lady!” She kept muttering unintelligibly while I tiptoed my way to my room to wait out the storm. She must have touched something because the printer sounded like it was coming back to life.

  If the machine started printing again, the first thing it would spit out would be the entries, with Meera’s on top.

  I had to get the papers before Mami saw them, or she’d start asking and asking until I told her all the secrets about the matches and the Astro. Mami would get involved with the kittens and make things worse. She wouldn’t understand about the anonymous account.

  Mami went into her room and locked her door. It wasn’t a door slam, but the sound of that lock was like that of a wall coming up. If she was sad, I wished she’d tell me. I wished we could talk it out. Instead, everyone was sad on her own.

  I waited in my room until I saw Beli go into the kitchen. She was curiously quiet, not listening to her music on her phone and singing along. It was around the time she started making dinner every day, but the kitchen remained silent and cold. What was going on?

  I ventured out with the excuse of having to go to the bathroom, when I saw the printer was unsupervised and Meera’s entry was right there on top of the tray. I ran to snatch the papers, and on the way back to my room, I saw Beli sitting in the kitchen, petting Gigi, who sat on her lap. Beli had such a sad expression on her face that I couldn’t ignore her. Just in case, I put the papers in my room first.

  When I came back, my grandma was still sitting in the same position, looking out the window at the snow gently falling. I didn’t hate the winter as much as Beli did, or at all, really. We needed the moisture if we wanted a green spring—and a safe summer. Late last summer right after the start of the school year, we’d had many wildfires along the dry Wasatch mountains. A yellow toxic bubble of smoke covered the Utah Valley, where Andromeda was nestled. Principal Snow had declared inside recess for weeks. Not that it mattered to me—I’d been spending a lot of time alone in the library—but still, it was miserable to be cooped inside with so many other sixth graders.

  Even if she hadn’t said it a million times a day, I knew Beli loathed this weather. The sky was dark gray, and there was no mistaking the sigh that seemed to come from the very bottom of her heart.

  “What’s wrong, Beli?” I asked, taking her hand in mine.

  She smiled sadly, and I dropped her hand to go turn the light on. Now I could see her dark brown eyes were damp. She sighed again. “I just wish I could be in two places at once.”

  Was this what Reuben was feeling earlier today?

  “You’re ready to go home?” I sat next to her and placed my head on her shoulder.

  Beli caressed my hair with her hand. “Ay, mi amor. I feel like the island’s calling me. I’m like el coquí.”

  El coquí is a tiny tree frog that’s also Puerto Rico’s national animal. The legend Papi used to tell me every night said that it couldn’t live outside the island. That when it was too far from its shores, it stopped singing until it died.

  I hugged Beli tightly. “Don’t say that.”

  Beli must have heard the fear in my words because she added, “I’m like a flor de maga, then.”

  “The what?”

  “The Puerto Rican amapola, mi niña. Remember the big red flower with the long yellow center? If I spend too long in the cold, something in my heart starts shriveling, like the flower that misses the sunshine and the warmth.”

  “You’re going home soon,” I said. “Just a few more days.”

  Beli sighed, and I sat up to look at her eyes. “Yes, mi amor, and how I wish I could stay with Gina and you girls.”

  “Tío Mako must miss you too, though,” I said, lowering my eyes so she didn’t see the hurt in mine. Unlike Mami, I tried never to tell Beli how unfair it felt that his family had more time with her than we did. Still, the unsaid words made a knot grow painfully in my throat.

  Beli lifted my chin with a finger so I couldn’t hide
from her. “Yes, when I’m here, Mako and the girls miss me, and I miss them. When I’m there, I miss you and you miss me, but it was important to be here with you for the holidays with your papi gone. It’s never easy when the family is scattered from each other like little seeds. I could never love either one of my children more than I love the other.”

  My smile was tinged with sadness. “Mami always says the same thing about me and Juli, but it doesn’t look that way to me. Everyone has a favorite.”

  “Really?” Beli asked. “Do you think Gigi spends more time with Max than with Johnnycakes because she prefers one over the other?”

  I shook my head. The truth was that, no, I didn’t believe Gigi had a favorite kitten. She spent more time with Max because the tiny kitten needed more attention than her siblings. Meggie and Fifi, for example, were low-maintenance because they were doing well without extra help. The other day, though, Julieta had been sweeping too close to where Meggie was playing, and Gigi had jumped and attacked the broom with a ferocious yowl.

  Beli said, “Do you love your papi or your mami more? Me or your mami?”

  I bit my lip, not knowing how to reply. It was easy being angry at Mami because she was the only one around, but honestly, I knew that no matter what problem I got into, my mom loved me. Just like she knew Beli loved her, even if she didn’t move into the cold weather with us.

  “Mami’s favorite is Juli. You can’t deny it,” I said, and the words hurt when they left my lips.

  Beli shook her head. “Don’t you remember how those two used to argue when Julieta was your age?”

  I scoffed. Juli and Mami in a fight? They had their little disagreements, but nothing like the arguments with me. Beli never lied, but it was hard to believe her this time.

  She continued, “Every day Julieta complained that you were the favorite because Gina was always having to go to doctor’s appointments with you, and”—Beli’s face lit up as she remembered—“you slept in your parents’ bed until you were six years old!”

  I felt heat rising from the tip of my toes to the ends of my hair. I laughed. “I remember! But it was only on stormy nights!”

  Beli cupped my face with a hand. “You needed more attention. Like Max. It never was about either one being the favorite.”

  Leave it to Beli to make everything better. “You’re always my favorite grandma,” I said, hugging her again.

  “I’m your only grandma!” She laughed and hugged me back. “You remind me so much of your mom, you have no idea.”

  “You always say that, pero, Beli, I don’t see it,” I said, sitting up.

  “You’re both opinionated and passionate. And,” she said, pecking my nose with a kiss, “you have a knack for protecting the innocent. Once when she was your age, your mother brought home a tiny chick, and she begged me to keep it. I couldn’t say no. The thing is, the chick grew and became a beautiful rooster.”

  “A pet rooster?” I exclaimed as so many things fell into place. That’s why Mami had been so upset when the raccoon ate Mrs. Lind’s chickens!

  “That bird loved her and followed her all over the house. I loved seeing it perched on her shoulder, and I loved it even more when it chased the dog, Bandit, out of the compost pile in the yard.”

  I laughed, Beli’s words making a movie in my mind of my mom, her rooster, and her dog.

  “What happened to it?” I asked.

  Beli shrugged. “It lived a long, beautiful life … until the neighbor’s cat got to it.” I clapped my hand to my mouth to stifle a cry. Beli explained, “Since then, your mom hasn’t been a fan of cats. She hated them when Hayden’s cats scratched Julieta’s arm.”

  “Then why did she let me keep Gigi and the babies if she hates cats?”

  In that moment, though, Mami walked into the kitchen, Gigi in her arms, and said, “Because I love you, and this precious animal needed help. If the little girl inside me found out I’d kicked out an animal in need, even a cat, she’d have never forgiven me.” Gigi looked up at Mami and mewed. “Besides, look at this queen’s face.”

  “Gracias, Mami,” I said. “Beli, next time come see us in the summertime.”

  Beli laughed. “I’ll do that.” Then she bit her lip and checked the clock. “Mira la hora! And I haven’t even started the mofongo I was going to make. Tomorrow the plantains might be too ripe.”

  “We’ll make amarillos, then,” I said. Sweet plantains in syrup was the food of the gods.

  “Yes, amarillos for dinner!” Mami exclaimed, and for a second, it looked like the little girl she’d been was peeking out through her brown eyes. “For now, though, what about takeout? Taco Tuesday?”

  Beli beamed at Mami. “Tacos are a good idea every day,” she said, and they hugged in silence for a long time, Gigi squished between them.

  Later, after my tummy was happy, I left Mami and Beli softly talking in the kitchen. Snatches of their conversation drifted to me, like when Beli explained her life was in Puerto Rico, her job in the school where she cooked. But that she left knowing we’d be okay until Papi came back.

  Juli and Hayden showed up soon after with chocolate chip cookies Hayden’s mom had sent, and after grabbing a couple, I went to my room to go over more applications.

  I took Max and Fifi, who never got as much attention, and a pink ball of yarn from Beli’s craft bag. The two sisters were playing when Hayden peeked into my room and said, “There she is. I was looking for Fifi. Can I trade you?” He held Meggie in his other hand.

  “Sure,” I said, eager to go back to my task.

  As soon as she was on the floor, Meggie pounced on Max. The pair was too cute, and I grabbed Julieta’s camera from under my bed and snapped a picture.

  “Oooh,” Hayden said, pointing at the camera. “There it is. Juli was looking for the camera the other day.”

  My whole body felt like it was in flames. “Oops, don’t tell her, please. I’ll put it back. I promise,” I said. “I just need to upload the photos to the computer first.”

  Hayden wagged a finger at me and said, “Don’t forget.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Listen, Hayden,” I whispered. “Remember I’m the one making decisions on who’s going to get a kitten and which one. I see you’re too attached to Fifi, so watch your mouth.”

  Hayden clutched Fifi against his chest. “Rude,” he said. “And besides, you want them to end up with the best candidate ever, right? You can’t let your prejudices or your ego come before the kittens’ well-being. That is, if you care about them.” He turned on his heels and went back to the kitchen. With Fifi!

  He was such a clown, and he liked using long words. He was worse than Reuben even, but he had a point. Or two. I had to return Julieta’s camera somehow. I gave her a hard time, and if the roles were reversed, I’d be annoyed at my little sister taking everything from me. The truth was, she always had my back. She’d driven me to the vet that first night; she’d bought cat food and litter without me having to ask her; she asked Hayden to drive me to school so I didn’t have to ride with Meera.

  And choosing the best candidates? He was right about that too. Bodhi and his whole family were one of the best options for a kitten. So what if he was Meera’s brother? Would I let the past get between one of the kittens and fur-ever happiness?

  Reluctantly, I finally took a close, serious look at Meera’s application.

  1. Personal information: Meera Rogers

  2. All members of your household: My dad, my mom, my little brother, and me. Sometimes my grandparents, and lots of friends, come to visit, but all kids are well behaved around animals.

  That was true. Meera’s house was always full, but I remembered a birthday party where Cap had been the center of everyone’s gentle attention.

  3. Do you have any animals?: A dog, Captain America, who passed away in December. He had cancer and was in a lot of pain. So we had to put him down. It was our duty as his humans to make sure he wasn’t hurting. He didn’t deserve all that pain. He was the best dog and
friend ever. He was a rescue and lived with our family since I was in kindergarten.

  Poor Meera. Cap had looked so sick at the vet. I didn’t understand how a person could make the hard decision to let a pet go, but maybe what she said was true, that as their humans, it was our responsibility to let them go to animal heaven in peace. An act of kindness for all the love so freely given. If that were ever the case with Gigi, would I be brave enough to let her go? My mind said yes, but my heart cried no. If that moment came, though, I hoped to do the right thing.

  Something that felt like respect bloomed in my chest for Meera and her family.

  I kept reading, but my attention zeroed in on answer number six:

  I’m interested in adopting a kitten because my little brother has wanted one his whole life. He’s been so sad since Cap died and asks for a kitten every day! My parents have said yes but haven’t taken us to the shelter yet. It would make him so happy, and I have been feeling lonely too. I loved Cap, and it would be hard to have another dog. So I think a kitten would be a great option. My brother and I love every photo of the kittens, and we could give one of them a lot of love.

  I jumped to answer number eight:

  I’d love Max, especially because she was so much smaller and frailer than the other kittens, but look at her now! Bodhi is so gentle, and I think he would like a really cuddly kitten.

  I put the papers down, trying not to groan. She wanted Max? My Max? Maybe asking people to write down their choices had been a mistake. Maybe trying to find homes for the kittens had been a mistake.

  I flipped through the other applications, wondering what to do. I came to Lilah’s application—she’d sided with Meera immediately last year. I skipped right to number six.

  I’d love a kitten because I’m home alone a lot of the time now. My older siblings have moved out, and now I feel like an only daughter. My first niece was born two weeks ago, and my parents spend a lot of time going back and forth to help my brother and his wife, my sister-in-law. My nephews (from my other brothers) are too young to be my friends, and my siblings are too old for us to have anything in common. I would have so much time and attention for one of the kittens.