Familiar

This is Merlin. He’s been with me a little over five years. Just a couple weeks before Halloween of 2015, I got up early and took my dog Loki to the park for a short hike. While we were crossing the bridge over the creek that runs through the park toward the lake, I noticed this little ball of void running full-tilt toward me along the waterbank.

I stopped and waited for him, and this little guy ran right up, stopped dead at my feet, and meowed up at me. I petted his little head, then turned to continue up the trail.

Merlin would not be so easily dismissed. He followed all the way up the trail, then all the way back to the parking lot to my car, occasionally stopping to cry until I picked him up and carried him for a few minutes. When Loki and I got in the car, he sat there in front of my car, with his paws on the parking bumper, crying piteously up at me.

So I took him home with me.

I returned to the park later that evening with the little black cat. There was a house right next to the parking lot, and I thought that he may have slipped outside and gotten lost. Nope. The woman who lived there turned out to be an animal resource officer for my county. She told me that he wasn’t her cat, and that if I liked him, I should keep him, because the park was a well-known spot for animal abandonment.

So my little Halloween kitten came back home with me, and has been by my side ever since. I’m not sure any cat has ever loved me like this little guy, or been as close to me as him. He’s the sweetest, most loving of boys, and always wants to be with me.  I love all my cats, but Merlin is just… special.