Pam Maggio

Last Tuesday, the stray cat I’d been feeding left a kitten on my doormat. She’d never let me touch her. For months, I’d put food outside and watched her wait at the end of the porch until I closed the door. If I stepped out too soon, she backed away, even with her mouth still full. Her belly had been getting bigger. Then she disappeared for several days. I kept changing the water and leaving food in the same place. That morning, when I opened the door, she was standing there with something tiny hanging from her mouth. She lowered it onto the mat. Then she stepped back and looked at me. I found a cardboard box and lined it with a towel. By the time I’d settled the kitten inside, she was gone. A little later, she came back carrying another. This time, she stayed while I placed them together. She sat just outside the doorway, watching every movement of my hands. I crouched beside the box. “Is that everyone?” She looked past me, then turned and walked down the steps. I followed at a distance. Behind the shed, she squeezed beneath a sheet of wood propped against the wall. I bent down to look. Two more kittens were huddled underneath it. She lay beside them, licked the top of one little head, then looked up at me. Half her family was on my porch. The other half was still out here.