Call Him Dopey

“I wonder where he came from,” Johnny said, giving the little kitten a scratch behind his ears.

“I don’t know, he could be a victim of the flood you know, the way his fur was all messed up when I found him.”

“You’re going to keep him, aren’t you?” Johnny smiled.

“Well of course, unless someone reports him missing…he’s so cute,” she picked up the little gray and white kitten and kissed the top of his tiny head.

Johnny and Amanda were sitting on the front steps of her porch. Johnny stretched out his legs and leaned back. “So what are you going to name him?”

“Hmm... I don’t know. I used to have a cat named Tigger…but he’s not a Tigger.” She placed him on the porch and he climbed up Johnny’s leg to his chest and settled down for a nap.

“Hey cat, you can’t sleep there,” he said, sitting up. “I think you should call him Dopey.”

“No… that’s not a nice name,” she said, frowning.

“Yeah it is, it was one of the seven dwarfs.”

“Dopey,” she giggled.

Johnny had his hard cast off and was now in a walking boot, although he wasn’t doing much walking yet. He watched Amanda playing with the kitten and picked up his glass of soda.

“What about food and litter boxes and all that?”

“Have to go all the way to Coffs for that. Want to ride over?”

“Sure… I got nothing else to do,” he grinned. “Better put Dopey in a shoe box or something until we get back.”

Amanda took the kitten inside and found a confining place for him and picked up her purse and the keys to Johnny’s car. She saw him struggling to get up and ran out the door.

“Wait a minute... I’ll help you,” she said, tossing her bag on a chair by the door.

Johnny came up a little unsteady and grabbed on to her, straightening up,he still held his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him for a moment taking in the scent of her hair in the sun. She didn’t move or try to pull away. Somebody was going to have to move…Johnny pulled back, “sorry I forgot myself there for a moment.”

Amanda looked up at him her eyes dark, “You should forget yourself more often,” she said softly and moved away picking up her purse and walking toward the car.