Memories of Great Granma's pine chest of drawers.

For the first two weeks we had Cumin, she lived in the spare bedroom. She was a tiny, sick kitten and really quite helpless. As we had another cat, we felt it wise to keep them apart for a while, until he could get used to the smell and sound of another cat in the house. He was also still mourning for his recently departed sister.

Each day I would go into the bedroom and play with the kitten. She came out to the kitchen to eat and then I would put her to bed, like babies of old, in the pine chest of drawers. She had the middle drawer, which was filled with old sweaters and a big furry possum tail - her kitten snuggle up to go to sleep with.

This afternoon I was doing the annual "sock audit" in my husband's sock drawer. I turned my back for a moment, and this happened.

So, we had a chat, as you do with a small child. "Do you remember when you were REALLY tiny, and you used to go to sleep like this?" She kept looking at me. We talked about possum and the Big Black and White Daddy Puss who was waiting to adopt her.

When she did finally come out and explore the rest of the house, and meet our dear sad Otto, it was love at first sight for her, terror at first sight for him. She weighed less than a small bag of sugar, he was the size of a well fed piglet. His shyness didn't last long and she became the love of his life. He was completely besotted with this brave, funny, petite ginger clown.

And now she is snoozing kitty thoughts amongst socks, I suspect dreaming of her old dad, and possibly another midnight mouse snack. So long as she doesn't decide to swop her Mouse Storage from shoes in the hallway to socks in the drawer!