At one time we served as a foster home for motherless kittens that had been abandoned and turned over to the SPCA. We often grew attached and would have trouble letting them go when the time was right and they were ready for adoption. ‘Squirrel’ came to our local SPCA from someone who found him and two other kittens covered in maggots next to a Dollar Store.  He and his siblings were weak and a mess but little by little they took to the bottle and prospered although Squirrel was easily the most difficult of the three. My daughter and I both became very attached to Squirrels siblings, me one, my daughter the other one. When the time came to give them back we had a terrible time and decided to keep just one… and yes it was Squirrel!  He had been super needy, frantic, very difficult to bottle feed and quite vocal. He is now almost six years old and a lovely cat but very skittish, private, and often hides under a bed or goes in the basement up in the rafters if there is any visitor or commotion. He has been a near totally indoor cat but this morning he sniffed the outside air at our deck door and after several scared runs back inside he actually ventured out to the top of the deck stairs until a passing truck scared him, terrified he ran back inside and that was that… but here is proof that on 5-16-15 that Squirrel did indeed venture outside…

asleep
in my lap the new kitten
I didn’t want

skittish
but he musters up
a brief outing
on the deck

back inside
safe and sound
to sleep
and relive
the outing…