Along with the keys, we inherited two kittens with the house. It is not unusual for the French to leave their cats with the house being sold. As far as they are concerned cats serve a purpose – to catch mice, rats etc, and not necessarily to be a pet. However, Monsieur C was clearly a cat lover and sad to leave the kittens. He wrote us a lovely letter, in English, asking us to please look after and give them a good home, even though they were a bit feral. As we would need a cat, for the above mentioned reasons, we agreed. But we were also just about to go to Australia for a month so hasty arrangements were made for them to be fed in our absence.
On our return, only one very scrawny, timid and wild looking kitten was in evidence. After some patient coaxing she eventually came indoors to discover her territory. Once the winter got colder, unsurprisingly she became very attached to the sofa in front of the fire and her feral days seemed quickly forgotten.
We named her Shadow; both after the way she followed Merv around like a shadow and because she’s pretty scared of her own shadow. Clearly a mix of a number of breeds, she is now a good hunter (earning her keep), quite loud, independent and still quite skittish with strangers, but we love her.
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