The Kitten in the Snow

Chapter One: Paw Prints

It all began with one set of paw prints.

Lana pulled into the same parking space she always had. The tires on her vehicle pushing back the new layer of snow that had fallen while she was away for the night. The windshield wipers were fast at work. You could barely hear the music playing over the handheld speaker Lana used in place of her car speakers. They were completely blown out. Her car was littered with empty coffee cups and water bottles. The dangling car freshener swayed side to side. 

Lana was putting on her gloves before getting out of the car when she heard a loud thump on the roof, just above her head.

"What the-" Lana scoffed. She looked down at the ground from the car window, to see if anything had fallen or landed there. She hesitated but turned the car off and opened the door, slowly, still looking to see if there was anything waiting to jump out at her. She turned to grab her handheld speaker, still playing a catchy pop song. She then stepped out and closed the car door. Lana turned around to look at the roof of the car and there she saw a dent about the same size of a tire. Then she noticed that the snow on the roof had looked as if something slid down and off of it. Lana peered downward and she noticed what looked like the small foot prints of an animal. It had to be a little baby of some kind, they were so tiny.

Lana knelt to the ground carefully, her gloves sinking into the snow. She took a deep breath in anticipation of being attacked by whatever rabid animal could have crawled underneath the car. Lana lowered her cheek to the snow and  took a look despite her anxious hesitation. 

"Oh my-" Lana said in shock. "Oh, look at you, you small little thing, you!" she said as she reached for the animal. When her hands reappeared she was holding a small kitten covered in snow.

 It must be so cold.  Lana thought to herself. 

Lana was so immediately swayed by the kitten she didn't even question the size of the dent left behind by such a little creature. 

"Where did you come from?" Lana looked up and around curious as to how the kitten had fallen onto her car. She didn't see any streetlights or places where the kitten could have fallen from. "Were you up there the whole time?" Lana wondered, imagining the drive from her home to the shop. It wasn't a super long drive but enough to imagine the terror a little creature like this might experience. Either way, this kitten was hers now. If Lana knew anything about the cat distribution system, she knew she couldn't reject such a wonderful gift. 

Lana wrapped the kitten in her scarf and carried it towards her workplace. She walked in, late as usual but this time she brought her excuse with her. 

"There she is." her coworker griped aloud for the entire room to hear. "What is it this time?" the coworker, named Tabitha said. Tabitha was about 25 years older than Lana. They didn't get along all that well but they got work done, regardless. Lana enjoyed bantering with her but Tabitha would disagree.

Lana held up the kitten. "Look!" she said, her eyes darting back and forth from the kitten to Tabitha. The kitten, small and wet from the melting snow,  just hung in Lana's hands. The kitten's eyes glistened as if signaling a tear on cue. "Look at it!" Lana brought it closer to Tabitha and grabbed a rag from the table. She began wiping down the kitten in an attempt to dry it off. Tabitha, with her dyed - fire truck red - hair,  jumped back as if the kitten were a scary and dirty creature. 

"What are you doing bringing that thing in here?" Tabitha griped in her southern accent. "Barry! Look what this girl done did!" Tabitha called out. Lana laughed and temporarily placed the kitten in a highchair meant for toddlers to use at the restaurant. She created a make shift bed using towels and menus. She was on her way to grab and adorn her own waitress apron when Barry, the owner and cook of the restaurant, peeped his head out of the kitchen doorway. 

"What is that?" Barry said curiously.  His face, long and square,  wore a look of disappointment but the tone of his voice spoke of intrigue. He walked around the door way holding a spatula while wiping his greasy hands on his apron. His boots were black with steel toes and he wore dark blue jeans with black oil stains on them. Barry was the true image of a hardworking man. Calloused hands. Grey hairs sprinkled into his receding hairline. One scar on his forehead and one on his chin from his younger and rougher days. He was older but he wasn't ancient. Barry was bee keeping age.  

"It's a kitten!" Lana repeated in the same cheerful tone. 

Barry sighed and his brows furrowed. "Yes, I see that it is a kitten but what is it doing near my kitchen and in my restaurant?" he said as he put down his spatula and grabbed a small bowl from a nearby cupboard. Barry reached down underneath the bar and opened a mini fridge pulling out of it, a half gallon of milk. "I sure don't think the good folks of this town will take kindly to cat hair being anywhere near their food, Lana" he griped. 

Despite his professional tone, Lana knew Barry had a soft spot for animals. Just three summers ago, Barry took in two coyote cubs he had found after finding out their mother had been shot and killed by a careless hunter who had no empathy for her or her pups. Barry was kind enough to adopt a mother dog from the shelter to play mom to the pups. It was truly a win-win for all. The shelter dog, named Meryl after Meryl Streep - had two new pups after having hers taken from her and adopted by other families while she was left behind at the shelter. The pups? Well, they now had a foster mother who still had milk in the making. It wasn't long before they had grown up and were running around the property thinking they were full blooded German Shepherds like Meryl. What was Barry going to do with a couple coyotes? Luckily, Barry had an understanding with the town. He supplies delicious food and beer, come rain or shine and they allow his coyote mutts the respect of leaving them alone to live long happy lives. They were easily identifiable by their collars and nametags. It isn't everyday you see a coyote roaming around town with a collar on, let alone two! Gretel wore a classic pink color and Hansel wore blue. 

"And Coyote fur is any different?" Lana sassed back as she picked a reddish brown hair from the man's shirt beneath his apron. Lana giggled to herself as she pet the kitten who was nose deep in it's milk. Barry was in fact, not laughing. He stood there, processing both what she had just said and his next response. 

"And who was supposed to order more lint rollers?" Barry poked back holding up an empty inventory list. "We already have enough mouths to feed around here. Now I am out of an extra 3 ounces of milk. It all adds up, Lana." Barry walked back into the kitchen as Tabitha walked up to the kitchen window and handed him a ticket for a new order. Lana was still taken aback by Barry's reaction. He wasn't usually so... uptight. 

"He's been like this all day." Tabitha said while filling the empty coffee pot in her hands. "Whatever it is that's got him like this- needs to get straightened out. I'm stressed enough having to pick up your slack. Be on time. Please." she held Lana's gaze for a solid two seconds. That was one whole second longer than ever before.

Lana hadn't ever heard Tabitha say the word please before. Lana even started to have a guilty feeling of some kind. Maybe she could try to manage her time better, but what's a five to ten minute difference really going to make anyways? And what was up with Barry? Why was he acting so uptight all of a sudden? Why was there a dent on her car from such a tiny kitten? Where did the kitten come from?

In the 5 seconds of pondering others and how her actions may impact them, Lana was immediately reminded of the most intriguing topic of thought. What was she going to do with this little fluff ball that fell into her life? Literally.