Some friends are with you for years or even a lifetime. But sometimes you meet a person and even though you only spend a short time with them and never see them again, they make an impression that lasts the rest of your life. In this case, I don't mean "person" in the strictly human sense though.
We were outside Sunday afternoon when we heard a kitten crying. I quickly spotted him near the fence between us and our neighbor to the south. I have had enough cats to be able to recognize the hunger cry but my first instinct was, "Don't feed it. If you feed it it's yours forever." He seemed inclined to follow me so I tried to lead him back toward the neighbor's yard where I thought he might have come from. The neighbor has a cat so it didn't seem too unlikely that he might have acquired a second one.
The cat went through the fence but as soon as I started to walk away he followed me. So I fed him, he immediately demanded more, and I fed him again. And I petted him. He was very friendly and sweet and not at all afraid of the sound of power tools. He followed me around all afternoon and I petted him and picked him up and cuddled him a lot. For some reason the name Charlie came to mind. If I didn't think of something better I would name him Charlie.
Now I wish I had brought him into the house but for a couple of reasons I didn't. I was a little worried about how my two cats would react although they seemed fine with him hanging around outside but mainly I thought maybe he might belong to someone and would find his way back home if I left him outside. I fed him again just before 9 o'clock. That was the last time I saw him.
I keep looking for him every time I go outside, still hoping that he will come back, even though I'm pretty sure he won't. He was so beautiful and sweet. It was love at first cuddle. The selfie above is the best one of several pictures I tried to take. It's hard to take pictures of a cat who wants to cuddle. If he doesn't come back to me I hope he at least finds someone else to cuddle with.
