By Jamie Miles
Columnist

Recently while reading the Citizen newspaper, I came upon an article by Kathryn Purcell about Morgan County’s abandoned animal problem and contacted the paper immediately. You see, there was a photo taken by Angelina Bellebuono of a kitten named Daisy Chickpea who was identical to a stray kitten that visited our yard.

Our Kitty showed up early one morning. My husband insisted, “Don’t feed that cat.” I didn’t. Until lunchtime. Kitty just looked terribly hungry and terribly precious. Upon coming home that evening John wondered, “That kitten’s still hanging around?” “Seems so,” I whispered. “I guess you better give it something to eat,” he suggested. I fed Kitty again. There was no denying I broke every safe, sane piece of advice from Animal Control about contact with stray cats -- even impossibly cute ones.

It got worse. Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, I asked our sweet, innocent-til-proven-guilty neighbor, Caroline Jones, to further engage in reckless contact with Kitty by feeding her while we were on vacation. Now when the Jones left for the beach, Mary Win, Sarah Grey and Catherine Ligon assumed feeding duty which added minors two, three and four to my rap sheet. Trish Jones, Caroline’s mother, could face charges as my accomplice for she technically lined up the Ligon caretakers. (At least that was my interpretation of her actions and the intent of the law.) All was kittens with Kitty, until we returned home on a Saturday when mysteriously Kitty went M.I.A.

The disappearing Kitty case was ice cold, until I saw Daisy Chickpea’s glamour shot. After I talked to Angelina, it became clear there were two separate felines. They materialized under their prospective boxwood bushes (Kitty in my backyard, Daisy in front of the Citizen) the same day, so they probably were close kitten kin, maybe littermates. Unfortunately while trying to rescue Daisy from her Citizen hideout, Angelina received a painful bite. This proved once again, always follow Animal Control safety guidelines and…no good deed goes unpunished. Undeterred in her ways of kindness to all creatures, Angelina adopted Daisy after learning that Animal Control would have no choice but to remove Daisy from the crowded center -- permanently. When she heard of my little girl’s desire to shower Daisy with love, Angelina generously offered the kitten into our care.

So now the Miles have two black and white cats -- Oreo and Daisy Chickpea. Everyone is thrilled: my daughter, two sons, Angelina, Daisy, my husband (kind of) and me. Well, honestly, Oreo is not particularly overjoyed about this development in his cat kingdom.

So please remember not to touch strange animals. I promise the same. “Oh darn.” Wait just a second. I got to take this call….It might be my lawyer.