World, meet Achilles, the latest addition to our little family here at 45 Nagua Bay.
Friday night got off to an interesting start to say the least. Finally a weekend off for my baby, and naturally, a signal for it to instantly become a jam-packed weekend in the blink of an eye. Anyway, so just before we were due to leave for Bellville, the doorbell rang and who should be standing there but Tessa, the local complex busybody (and I mean that in a nice way by the way), a lady who is particularly interested in the animal life surrounding Nagua Bay.
So this is how the story went. Elsewhere along the complex, a Matric boy brought home a stray kitten that he had come across (not entirely sure if it was the SPCA or the street – details a little hazy), an act that was not particularly greeted over enthusiastically by the boy’s mother. The little kitten was not getting any attention and this came to the attention of another of the complex’s busybodies, who intervened and took the kitten off the frustrated mother’s hands.
However, herein lay the dilemma. Complex policy restricts the number of pets allowed and this new addition pushed the new adopters over the limit, something that was drawing unwanted attention to them. Already extremely in love with this feisty, adorable little kitten, things were looking bleak and they needed to get it out, which means finding a new home or sending it to the SPCA, something that really should only be a last resort.
And so this is were Tessa joined the party. Eager to help, she set about seeing if there wasn’t anyone else interested in giving this little furry fellow a new home, and naturally, we were top of the list. Already with two gorgeous cats that rule the roost and tend to be on friendly terms with all the other neighbourhood pets, didn’t we have it in our hearts to take on an additional family member?
So we ooh’ed and we ah’ed, told her that we’d need to think about it and naturally, in literally five minutes after she had left, we were out the door and searching for her, eager to tell her the good news. (needless to say, I directed Chantelle to the wrong flat – and even gave her the wrong name!) :)
But find her we did, and after telling her that we’d love to take him in (Chantelle was already grinning ear to ear), she insisted that we see him before we left and so off we pranced to go and meet our new little warrior.
Shame, you can see that the little fellow has already crawled into the hearts of everyone involved, and as sorrowful as they were to see him leave, they were equally happy to see that he will now be part of a good and healthy home.
And so yesterday evening, after the morning’s shopping, our picnic and Chantelle’s EXTREMELY extended afternoon nap, with basket in hand, we walked over and picked up little Achilles, my latest little warrior boy!
(Needless to say, integration into the family unit is going to be interesting to say the least, but the first evening has gone by rather well and thankfully Chantelle is off today, meaning that she can spend the whole day bonding with little Achilles. Coco and Olympus are pretty much non bothered with the new arrival, but Achilles understandably needs to still make friends. So for the moment he is growling, but we’ll soon fix that :) Oh, and at least he is already potty-trained, meaning we don’t have to go through that whole schlep again!)