The Hired Girl(62)

I saw the sycamore leaves flutter as the kitten fled. “Kittykittykitty,” sang Mimi in a sugary voice.

“Can you catch it?” I asked.

“Shhh. I’ll wait a little. You can’t chase after a cat too much. Cats have to come to you.”

Nobody ever told me that before. I wonder if that’s why Thomashefsky always ducks away from me. Maybe it has nothing to do with me being a Gentile. I heard a faint rustle, and Mimi crooned, “Kittykittykitty?”

She coaxed and crooned for the next five minutes, creeping farther and farther out on the branch. I wouldn’t have thought she could be so patient. I waited below, saying Hail Marys inside my head. I hope it wasn’t sacrilegious. It seems to me the Blessed Mother must love all creatures, including *cats.

I heard a shriek of protest from the kitten. Mimi crowed, “Got him! Look out, I’m coming down!”

In an instant she was dangling from the branch. I rushed forward to catch her, but I didn’t time it right, or she didn’t; she dropped down before I expected. The best I could do was break her fall, and I guess I did. Both of us tumbled to the grass.

Once again we untangled. Mimi reached inside her dress and took out the kitten. He was trembling all over, poor little thing. “Here. You take him while I put my shoes back on.” She scooped him into my hands.

I clasped him to my breast. He was so frightened, and so small. At that moment . . . well, there’s a lot in books about love at first sight, but I’ve never known if I believed in it or not. But I never felt anything so like it as when I cradled that kitten in my hands. He was so tiny and fragile and scared that my heart ached. It felt soft and swollen with tenderness.

He’s such a pretty little thing. He has stripes. His background fur is the color of ginger, but his stripes are darker, like dark brown sugar. There’s a milky-white patch under his pointy chin, and his paws have sweet little pink pads and sharp, sharp claws. “His eyes are blue!”

“All kittens have blue eyes,” said Mimi, tugging at her stocking. “Just like babies. They change later on. Didn’t you know that?”

I didn’t. Father hates cats. Every now and then, a stray cat will take shelter in the barn, but Father always shoots it. I explained this to Mimi. Her eyes grew wide and solemn. “I think your father must be the meanest man who ever lived,” she said. “Thank goodness you ran away.”

We brushed off our dresses and put our hats back on, and I picked up my diary. We headed out of the park, taking turns carrying the kitten. I felt jealous when he was in Mimi’s hands, but I knew she had the right to hold him. She was the one who climbed the tree.

“I couldn’t have rescued him without you,” Mimi assured me. I swear that child can read my mind. “He’ll be both our cat. What’ll we call him? I think Harry’s a nice name.”

The perfect name came to me at once. “Moonstone. I’m reading a book about a yellow diamond that shines like the harvest moon. We’ll call him Moonstone.”

“Moonstone,” repeated Mimi, tasting it. She flashed her bewitching smile at me. “That’s even better than Harry.”

We walked home in perfect accord. I was so happy. I was happy because I was in love with Moonstone, but I was also happy because I felt close to Mimi. We really are friends, Mimi and I. I don’t believe she cares one bit that I’m only the hired girl.

But when we got back to Eutaw Place, everything went wrong. Mimi and I took the kitten to show Mrs. Rosenbach, and she said it was out of the question that we should keep him. She said they already had the Thomashefsky cat, and one animal was enough. Mimi argued that Thomashefsky really belongs to Malka, and she (Mimi) is tired of Thomashefsky and would rather have the kitten. Mrs. Rosenbach said that was a pity, but Malka had enough to do with feeding Thomashefsky and letting him out of the house a dozen times a day. I assured her I would feed Moonstone and look after him; I offered to pay for his food out of my wages.

But Mrs. Rosenbach was adamant. She said she didn’t allow her servants to keep pets. Mimi pointed out that Malka had Thomashefsky, but Mrs. Rosenbach said that Malka wasn’t a servant; she was a member of the family. She said we should take the kitten back to the park where we found it, so it would have a chance to find its way home. She said that it probably lived in the park and hadn’t been lost at all. Now it was lost, because we’d brought it to Eutaw Place.

I couldn’t believe the cruelty of that. I was close to tears. Mrs. Rosenbach told me, in the most patronizing way, to use my handkerchief, which wasn’t fair because I wasn’t crying. Mimi lost her temper and said her mother was mean, mean, mean. Mrs. Rosenbach sent Mimi to her room and ordered me to take the kitten back to the park. She said that cats are good at finding their way home.