She woke up with a start

to strange kitten sounds. Opening the window, she saw the culprit: Father cat, yawning at the foot of the stairs, gray and soft like the afternoon, unmindful of the kitties just behind him, hanging from a slab by their tiny paws. She balked at the cool, uncaring pose of mean Daddy cat. And where is the mom?

Living alone, she has not cried in years. And now this.

This family of cats, the ease of their coming into existence just like that; she curses the consequence of feline feelings: untutored hunger, wild warmth, madcap purring even in pain.