For much of my adult life, we’ve had four cats living in our household. But then during the pandemic our elderly cats one by one got sick and died, and by early 2023, we had only one cat living in our house, a thirteen-year-old orange tabby named Jake.
Jake came to us from a rescue organization when he was a year old, after he was adopted by another family and then returned for being “too friendly.” The rescue said he needed to be in a house with kids and other pets, and that was. . . exactly my house. Jake is the friendliest, craziest, and best cat, who immediately took to my toddler son and our other three cats when we adopted him.
Even now, twelve years later, Jake can generally be found sleeping wherever my (now teen) son is, or alternately, jumping around on a rafter that runs from our second story landing to our two-story ceilinged living room. (At 13, Jake still very much thinks he’s a kitten.) But then last spring, Jake was the only cat left in our house and he seemed to be a little off. He spent a lot of time meow-yelling at us, and by summer, we promised him we would adopt him a friend. When I saw on Facebook that a friend was fostering a litter of orange tabbies (mini-Jakes!), I knew we had found Jake’s perfect match.
Of course, my kids and I went to meet the kittens, and then, we couldn’t adopt just one. So we left with two three month old orange tabbies, who we called Joe and Jerry. They are, much like Jake, too friendly and crazy. Five months later, they can be found alternately sleeping on us and purring or jumping around on the second story rafter. Additionally, they enjoy turning on the oven, hiding in the washing machine, climbing dresses in my closet, climbing into any trash can, eating old food from the garbage disposal, and just general destruction of our house.
Jake honestly wasn’t sure what to make of them at first, but now I find all three of them wrestling at least once a day, followed up by a snooze in their favorite window. And it feels like the cat balance has been restored in our house!
Here’s a picture of Jerry and Jake in my office and another one of Joe and Jerry sleeping together on a chair, looking like the perfectly well-behaved cats they always are. 🙂
Jillian Cantor has a BA from Penn State University and an MFA from the University of Arizona. She is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of 11 novels for teens and adults which have been chosen for Indie Next, Library Reads, Amazon Best of the Month and have been translated into 13 languages, including, most recently BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FOOLS. Born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, Cantor currently lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons. Her 12th novel, THE FICTION WRITER is published by Park Row Books.
