Getting Suzie

As I sat on the bus home from Math Team, I sat in a seat not far from the back where the upperclassmen were clumped together to talk about a variety of topics. Half the time, I didn’t understand what they were saying, and the other half of the time I didn’t know why they were saying what they were saying, but it was fun nonetheless to try to participate occasionally and to sit near them. It was far better than spending the whole time looking at my phone and being bored.

Still, as the bus brought us back towards our school, I continued to look at my phone occasionally. My aunt Judi, who I had not seen in months, was at our house for a few hours before her flight. She had just gotten back from a cruise earlier that day and had stopped by to say hello.

Then, as we slowly rode through the dark streets of suburban Massachusetts towards our destination, I felt a slight buzz from my phone. Immediately, I pulled the device from my pocket to see a text from my mother.

A picture of five kittens flashed before my eyes, scattered across a gray crate. Two gray kittens sat to the right side of the picture - one hiding behind a litter box and one drinking some water. To the center, an adorable black kitten sat, looking in the general direction of the camera. To the very left of the screen, two yellow kittens were huddled together.

I read the text below it: “One of these is in our house”

What? I knew we were planning on getting a cat - we had already gotten a litterbox and everything - but now. We already had one.

“What’s their name?” I typed as quickly as possible on my phone and sent the text.

“Suzie,” My mom wrote back to me.

“Which one?” I sent another text.

“Fluffy gray one in the back corner,” She wrote to me. I stared at the picture, looking at the cat sitting behind the litterbox. Her eyes faced towards her brother and her head tilted slightly to the side.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. We hadn’t had a cat in around 10 years, and now we were getting one. I felt so excited by the prospect of having a pet in our house - a new member of the family. And, as I stared at the screen, although I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get the black cat, I couldn’t contain my excitement over Suzie, her large eyes longing for a family, and my sister and I longing for a cat.

Instantly, I opened Google Maps to see how far we were from home. The sound of other students explaining the answers to problems to each other was quickly drowned out by the thoughts spiraling through my head.

On my map, I watched as the bus driver went in every direction that the map told me not to go. I wondered how the bus was taking so long, but I guessed that the bus driver had to avoid height restrictions. I fidgeted with my fingers, rapidly tapping them against each other.

The picture of Suzie shyly sitting behind the litterbox, staring into the void, wouldn’t leave. As I kept my map open, I ignored the decreasing battery on my phone and instead elected to consistently switch between the pictures of Suzie and my map to see how far we were.

I turned around towards the other people on the bus and held up my phone.

“We’re getting a cat,” I spoke. The students near me looked up at the screen as I displayed the picture.

“She’s already at my house,” My heart felt as though it was melting - the cold weather outside was overpowered by the torch that sat under my heart.

“Wow,” another student said.

“Which one?” One of them asked.

“Gray one in the back,” I said. “Her name’s Suzie,”

It was impossible to sit still in my seat with the knowledge of everything that would happen as I got home. What if Suzie didn’t like me? Or what if she did? And I was going to get to see my aunt, who I had barely even gotten a chance to talk to in months. I continued to repetitively peer at my phone to see how close we were, even as the battery neared death.

When we arrived at my house, I was quick to dash out of the car towards the door, throwing it open and dropping my bags on the floor. As I entered the house, I heard the voice of my aunt in the other room.

Quickly, I dashed through the door, throwing my blue scarf into the pile of coats, hats, and gloves on the ground, and turned into the dining room. Piled up behind the couch were our two Yogibo chairs, one red and one green. I began to walk towards them, slowing down slightly as I approached to try not to scare Suzie. Being them, in the enclosed area behind the couch that they created, my aunt and sister sat.

Stealthily, I climbed up to the bean bags and down onto the floor, having been told not to stand up straight as to not scare her.

“Hi,” I said to my aunt, peering around the area for Suzie.

“Hi, Finn!” She exclaimed as she saw me. My aunt was an older woman, with a cord for oxygen stretching to her Oxygen tank which was placed on the couch.

“Where’s Suzie?” I asked, excited by the moment.

“Under the shelf,” my sister said, “Try not to scare her,”

“I won’t,” I replied. I peered over at the structure and watched as Suzie crawled out through the minuscule gap under it.

“Aww,” I said as she slowly crawled towards me. Suzie had long, gray fur and large ears, and two huge eyes which stared at me as she approached. She had long, frizzled fur and eyes that felt as though they were mistakenly drawn to be too big on her face.

With her wet nose, Suzie sniffed me and sat on the floor next to me. The small creature began to purr softly as I firmly moved my hands across her soft fur. As she purred, my fears of her disliking me subsided, and I knew that I had made a new friend.

Preparing for school after getting Suzie wasn’t all that different from how it was before she had arrived in our lives, other than the fact that Suzie now wanted to help. As I opened the cabinet where I would place my backpack overnight, Suzie approached to see what was inside it. She was quick to take the place of my bag when I pulled it out.

And, as I prepared for school, my life felt the same as it had been before until Suzie made her way onto the table. Slowly, as she sat on top of the packed backpack, her mischievous and energetic personality revealed itself. And, as she looked at me, I couldn’t help but pet her for a moment before going outside. What else was I supposed to do, she was part of the family now.

As my mom bribed her to get off my backpack with the sight of a toy, I felt glad to have her in my life. I could live with her mischievous antics and her exploratory goals.