By Mochi, as told to Sarah Anne Kulla
I am sleeping next to the warm computer, lulled by the click click of my human typing on her keyboard. I am always, always next to her. My human is my mom, and we are connected on the physical, spiritual, and emotional level. My furry, tortoise shell body is practically like another arm or leg to my human—we are always together.
It wasn’t always this way. In a half dream, the clicking of the keyboard gives way to images from my past. I was so cold, and so scared. I was tiny, the size of an avocado, and not nearly as solid. I was running around some kind of cement building with whirring and buzzing machines, generating electricity. I don’t know what happened to my birth mom, or my brothers and sisters, but I was quite alone.
Denim uniforms, reading: CFE in red on the chest. Brown leather work boots, and men who were too busy to see me. I was screaming in my tiny voice, wandering through the room as they stepped over or around me, ignoring me. I was invisible to most of them—until I found the one who could see me!
His shoulder-length brown hair was tucked under a black beanie, and the long denim sleeves of his CFE uniform were covering up the many colorful tattoos on his arms. His eyes were full of love and curiosity as he scooped me up in his warm hands.
“You can SEE ME?” I asked him.
“HELP MEEEEEEEE!” I shrieked in my loudest tiny kitten voice.
He gave me some milk, the only thing available—and wow I loved it! Then he put me in a small tollbooth room for the rest of his workday, where I continued to cry and wait, for whatever would come next. Fortunately, there were only a couple of hours left to wait before I found out that my life had just been changed forever—I was about to find my FAMILY.
The metal bars on the driveway were creaking open, and I saw my human mom for the first time. She didn’t know I was coming, gasped and cradled my tiny body in her arms:
“You brought home a kitten??? She’s a tortie!”
“I found her at the plant. Look how little she is! Let’s keep her!”
Every day I grew stronger, with nutrition and veterinary care. I took long, healing naps curled on the neck of my mom, like a warm little purring scarf. I remember the feeling of my little body finally relaxing and moving from surviving, to thriving. I like to ride on my humans’ shoulders, and I even travel internationally.
I am Princess Mochi, and I am loved!!!
