What could it be? We laid on our bellies with our ears as close to the crack as we could get them and waited for the noise to come again. It did. "It's a bird!" loudly whispered my brother. "No way", I replied, "It doesn't sound like a bird at all". Our whispering disturbed whatever was behind the door as it came to the crack and blocked out the light. "Birds don't have paws", I thought to myself. "Mew" came from the little black shadow on the other side of the door, "Mew". "It's a KITTEN!!", I yelled. "A kitten, a kitten, A KITTEN!!!!". I jumped around and danced in a circle. I had been wanting a kitten for so long and my parents told me no. There is no way that this could be happening!
Since it was close to 4 in the morning by now surely our parents would be okay with waking up and letting me see what it was in the bathroom, just to be certain. We tip-toed at full speed to my parents room and stood in their faces silently staring at them to wake up. My brother on my dad's side and I by my mother's. How creepy small children can be. They both woke up with a gasp as if we had just blared an airhorn in the room to wake them at the same time. We didn't but apparently the feeling of being stared at is enough to wake a person up and then upon the realization that you are in fact being stared at is enough to make a person gasp and jump. "It's Christmas" I whispered after taking a step back from my mother's nose, "There is a kitten in the bathroom and I want it out".
"There is no kitten in the bathroom", my father said, "go back to bed"
"There is. I heard it.", I was hopping and flapping excitedly now, "I heard it, I heard it".
"There is nothing in the bathroom. I don't know what you are talking about. What time is it?"
When we told him the time we were both promptly instructed to return to our beds and we could open the presents at 6 in the morning. And to stay away from the "nothing" in the bathroom. Ugh 2 more hours. Of course, we didn't go to bed. My brother went to count presents for the next two hours and I went to lay on my belly next to the bathroom door and listen to "nothing" squeak and pitter patter around.
At one minute to 6 my brother came to get me and we both high-tailed it to our parents bedroom. This time we were holding nothing back as we woke them up as a normal child would on christmas morning. We then dragged the remainder of our siblings from their sleep and frolicked to our respective places in the family room in front of the tree, hopping up and down in our seats as if we were on some sort of spring.
My mother came out smiling groggily in her house coat and my dad followed, also smiling but mostly laughing at how overly excited we were. On a normal day you couldn't get us out of bed with a fork lift but today we were hopping around like bunnies after being up for 3 hours already. The present unwrapping began. I tore off paper and hurled my gifts to the side, the faster I got done with these presents the faster I could see that "nothing". The last of the paper came off and I looked around. Done. My dad smiled and said something but my excited brain wouldn't allow me to hear him. He walked into the laundry room and then back out. the small nothing in his arms was a teeny tiny black kitten.
"A CAT!" I screamed and lept from my spring loaded spot. He put her in my arms and I squeezed her and gave her kisses and nuzzled her face. She was terrified. That little kitten was everything I had wanted. I decided to name her "Zip" after the black beanie baby cat, it was my favorite.
That was almost 14 years ago. Zip was such a great cat. As the years went by there were many things that she did that would qualify her as the best cat in the world. When she was itty bitty she used to hide in the holes under the cabinets. She would sit under there and put her little paws out or maybe just her nose and watch as we all moved about the house trying to find out where she was. Or when she would jump up into the holes that were under the high cabinets and drop just her tail down while she sat on the ledge that was inside. Sometimes she would hide under the bed and swat at our toes as we stood nearby. If there was a closed door and she wanted inside, she would stick her paws under the door and swat and meow until she was let through. She loved to be outside and would attempt to escape if there was ever a door open for more than 5 seconds, only to lay in the grass. She loved to sleep in the bed with us and her favorite spot, until she was too big, was right on top of someone's neck so that she could stay nice and warm. She would always sit by the stairs when she was hungry to alert us to the fact that she was in need of food. She loved to snuggle and would climb up onto me while I was sitting and nuzzle her nose into my neck to keep her little nose toasty. She purred any time that someone would hold her (until she got older, then she only liked the family). She was always there to give love, even when we didn't realize that we wanted or even needed it. She was the sweetest cat you could ever meet.
Today I had to say goodbye to my precious baby Zip. I will miss seeing her when I go to visit my momma. And I will miss her stretching her paws up my leg so that I would pick her up. I will miss her little meow asking to go sit on the porch for hours and enjoy the fresh air. I will miss everything about her. I know that she isn't in pain anymore and that she will be much happier now. She has all of the mice and bugs that she could ever imagine chasing up where she is now. I know that she will always watch over us. she has left her mark on our hearts and she will be forever loved.
Rest in peace now my pretty little girl. Mommy and your family love you!
"ZIP" November 1997-October 23, 2011
