No Regrets
“And make sure the flat is spotless by the time I get back!” Mrs. Harriet Brown dashed out onto the landing, slamming her door so fiercely that the windows in the hallway rattled.
Emily, who was coming down the stairs at that very moment, jumped at the sound. She froze for a second, hoping the neighbour wouldn’t spot her. But of course, that was wishful thinking. Mrs. Brown noticed everything.
“Oh, Emily! Good morning, dear!”
The woman carelessly set a cardboard boxwhat looked like it had once held a slow cookeron the floor and fumbled hastily with the buttons on her coat. She was clearly in a rush.
“Good morning, Mrs. Brown,” Emily said, forcing a polite smile. “The kids get into trouble again?”
“More than that! Honestly, Im at my wits end,” Mrs. Brown muttered, still grappling with her coat.
Suddenly, the box on the floor moved.
Startled, Emily nearly jumped out of her skin, although she was at a safe distance. She didnt consider herself a coward, but the idea that something in that box might be alive hadnt entered her mind.
“Just what could it be, I wonder?”
Her imagination pictured a misbehaving slow cooker, perhaps one that spat out raw vegetables and was thus condemned to the skip.
“Take a look,” said Mrs. Brown, hefting up the box slightly to reveal its contents.
Emily stepped onto the landing and cautiously peered in.
She logically knew a ‘living’ appliance was impossible, but what she saw still took her by surprisean unexpectedly pleasant one.
From inside the box, a pair of curious eyes stared back at her. They belonged to a tiny kitten.
“Oh, how lovely!” Emily gasped.
“Lovely? Hmph!” Mrs. Brown grumbled, snapping the lid shut again.
“Where did he come from?”
“The kids brought him in,” Mrs. Brown sighed. “I regret ever letting them keep him. That kitten’s nothing but trouble. I fell for his cute eyes and adorable face, but its always trueAll that glitters is not gold. Looks like a darling, but his temperaments like my exs.”
“Hell calm down as he grows,” Emily said gently. “Are you taking him to the vet for his vaccinations?”
“What? Of course not, Emily! I cant stand his antics another minute. Im dropping him off at my allotmenthe can live there.”
Emily looked at her in disbelief, hoping against hope that Mrs. Brown was kidding. But the furrowed brow and sharp glare made it clear she most certainly was not. And it wasn’t April Fools Day, after alljust November 15th.
“To the allotment? In late autumn?”
“And should I wait til spring? Or summer? It makes no difference! Even if it was the middle of winter, Id take him. Hes not a kittenhes a nuisance, thats what!”
Mrs. Brown was clearly riled up and stopped to catch her breath.
After a moment, she continued. “You should see what this little menace gets up to! I havent taken this many calming tablets since I was raising two toddlers. My decisions final. Hes going!”
“But”
“I could leave him outside, I suppose. Thats where the kids found him. But then theyd just sneak him back in and hide him God-knows-where until I found him again. Or even worse, hed find his own way back. Ive had enough!”
She checked her phone, tutted at the time and shook her head. “Im late now, Emily. Youve nattered me half to death. Ill miss my bus if I dont go!”
She gripped the box, turned and started down the stairs.
Emily watched her go, baffled at how someone could abandon a kitten at an allotment to fend for itself. He wouldnt last a day.
“Wait, Mrs. Brown!” she called.
“What now? I told you, Im in a hurry!”
“Please dont take the kitten to your allotment. Let me try to find him a good home. Give him to me, please?”
Mrs. Brown turned slowly.
“A good home, is it? Are you implying my home isnt good enough?” she said, eyes narrowed. “These hands raised two children, you know!”
“No, no hints intended,” Emily replied. “I just want to give the little one a shot. He wont survive at the allotment.”
“If he wants to survive, hell have to manage. And if he cantwell, maybe he was never meant to. Its not my fault.”
“But why so harsh?”
“Not my doing! That kitten doesnt know how to behave indoors, thats all.”
“Hes just a baby! Hell learn,” Emily said. Then added quietly, “You dont take your own children out to the allotment when they misbehave, even if you do shout at them all day.”
“My children are my children. Dont compare them to this creature! Still, if you want himfine, take him!” Mrs. Brown set the box on the floor, smirking. “Better for mesaves me a bus fare. I wonder how long youll last?”
With that, she disappeared into her flat, slamming the door as usual, and started bellowing at her kids inside. Emily couldnt make out the words this time. She picked up the box gingerly, double-checking the kitten was still there, and made her way to her flat.
And just like that, shed unexpectedly become the owner of a second-hand slow cooker box and a little kitten inside.
It certainly hadnt been in Emilys plans to take in a furry lodger, least of all today. Shed only popped out for coffee, which shed run out of, and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Truthfully, shed never been much of an animal person. She didnt have that breathless adoration pet owners always talk about.
But letting Mrs. Brown cart the baby off into the cold? She simply couldnt abide it. Indifference is not the same as cruelty. Sometimes, you just have to step in and do the right thing.
And besides, why resort to extremes? Surely she could find someone eager to take a sweet-faced kitten?
Emily was convinced someone would. All it took was a few good photos and an online post. Soon enough, there would be a queue of would-be adopters at her door.
Simple as anything.
*****
Determined not to lose time, as soon as she got home, Emily snapped some photos of the kitten and quickly posted them to forums entitled “Free to a Good Home” and “Looking for Loving Owners.”
At peace with her choice, she then nipped to the shopnot only for coffee, but also kitten food. After all, hed need something to eat before he found a new family.
Along with food, she picked up a plastic litter tray and some cat litter. Unexpected expenses, but needs must; shed just pass them on with the kitten when someone came for him.
“The new owner can have the lot,” she thought, smiling at herself. She felt goodno regret about the money spent if it meant helping.
Mrs. Brown had said the kittens name was Muffin, but he didnt respond. So Emily decided to choose a new name.
She went through dozens of options and finally settled on the hundred and thirty-second.
“Youll be Oscar now, yes?” asked Emily.
“Miaow,” replied Oscar, and scampered to the hallway to battle with the fuzzy slippers, which annoyed him immensely. After all, only he had the right to be the fluffiest and softest in the house.
Grinning, Emily watched Oscar play in the hallway, then sat down to get some work done.
Emily was a freelance photographer, regularly doing photo sessions, and loved what she did. Better yet, it paid the bills comfortably.
Now she had a set of photos from her last session to process. She switched on her laptop, opened Photoshop, loaded the first image, and started retouching.
But working in peace was out of the question.
Oscar, having won his fight with the slippers, started zooming madly round the flat, spinning round corners and crashing into things. The racket was unreal.
“Hey, you!” Emily spun in her chair and wagged a finger at him.
The kitten paused in the middle of the room, staring intently as if to say, “Yes? Well?”
“I get it, youre bored. But remember, youre only here for a bit”
“Miaow!”
“Dont argue! Youre a guest, so be nice and let me work, please.”
She regretted it as soon as she said it.
Oscar paused, then turned to look at her with such a pitiful expression that Emily felt distinctly guiltynot just a little, but a whole bucketful.
“How can anyone scold something so small?”
“Alright, have your fun. Just keep it down,” she relented.
Oscar chirped with delight and resumed hurtling around, crashing into chairs and the sofa.
“Eyes on the prizeno obstacles in sight! Thats Oscar to a tee,” Emily thought. To drown out the din, she put on headphones and some music and got back to her photos.
But five minutes later, Oscar, now running at the speed of light, shot under her desk, managed to yank the computers power cord out, and vanished. No way to prove it was his fault.
“For goodness sake How did you even?” Emily stared at the blank screen.
For the next half-hour, there were two creatures careening about the flat: Oscar and Emily, in hot pursuit.
She failed to catch him but did manage to stub her toe and whack her knee twice.
When she finally got the computer back on, grimacing and massaging her foot, she checked all the posts shed made about Oscar.
There were plenty of likes, which cheered heruntil she read the comments.
Everyone wrote the same things: What a gorgeous kitten! Youre so lucky! Hes a real beauty!
But no-one wanted to take this miracle themselves. Not a single call, not a single knock at the door. She checked three times.
Maybe it was the distance, she thought. She added beneath every post that she was willing to drive Oscar anywherea different part of London, another city, even across the country.
Thats whats holding them back, she told herself. Now someone will definitely get in touch!
Meanwhile, Oscar, exhausted, finally managed to leap up on the sofa and assumed the position of Love me as I am, displaying his fuzzy belly. Emily sat beside him, gently stroking him until they both drifted off to sleep.
And that was it for the day. No work was done after all.
*****
A week passed, and Emily realised that finding Oscar a home wasnt so easy. People left likes and comments, but nothing more. No messages, no phone calls.
Another three days went by, and she truly started to wonder: What if no one comes for him? Would he have to stay with me?
Great. Just what I need, she muttered, scolding herself a moment later.
Oscar, lying next to the keyboard with his paws wrapped round the mouse, opened one eye as if to say: Its naptime, why are you yelling?
Emily sighed and picked up her phone to reread the comments.
There was nothing new. Everyone was still in awe of Oscar and saying how lucky Emily was to have himbut no one wanted to take him home.
With every new like and comment, her hope faded.
She remembered her recent visit to a therapist, when she couldnt shake the feeling something was missing in her life.
She had a job she loved, no money worries, a flat of her own (thanks to her parents)it should be perfect. But recently, she had this persistent sense of lacking something. It wasnt about relationshipsshed deliberately taken a break from dating to focus on herself.
So what was it?
Even the therapist couldnt really helptalk to yourself, hed said, though she found that ended with a glass of water and a paracetamol for her headache.
Shed spoken to her friends about it.
“Maybe youre just spoilt for choice,” said Sophie, who always envied Emilys career and flat.
“No, SophieI work hard too, just like you.”
“Maybe THATS whats missing,” mused Lucy, polishing off her dessert.
“Sorry, what?”
“Not WHO, but WHAT! Youre missing some fat in your lifelook at you, so slim! Clearly didnt eat enough cake as a child.”
But her friends couldnt offer the answer either. So she decided to stop overthinking it. Still, now the question came back to her.
Just what I needed, she whispered. But maybe maybe Oscars what was missing for my happiness? Well, time will tell.
*****
A whole month flew by since Oscar had moved in. Or, flown by in a blink.
No one had come to take him. Emily was genuinely puzzled: how could over twelve hundred people (thats how many likes Oscars photos had) not want to take him in?
But now, after thirty days, she thought she understood.
A lot had happened over that monthenough for a whole War and Peace, if she went into detail.
Oscar turned out as clever as could be. He seemed to understand Emily at once, especially when she (for the tenth time) scolded him for attacking the sofa.
And he tried out new professions too, starting with interior designer. Thanks to Oscar, Emily went through four sets of curtains before deciding none were necessary.
After interior design flopped, Oscar tried his luck as a chef. He sampled everything he could find on the kitchen table before spitting it all outpickled onions, mushrooms, mashed potato. The culinary life just wasnt for him. Why bother, when theres tasty cat food in the cupboard?
So Oscar moved on to his final, most important role: making Emily happier.
Of course, Oscars idea of making happy was different from hers.
Emily would have loved to catch up on sleep and get her photo editing done, but since Oscar arrived, peace was a thing of the past.
Somewhere up above, it seemed, Fate had decided Emilys life was too peaceful and gifted her Oscar.
No sooner did she sit down or lie back than Oscar appeared out of nowhere, peering into her eyes as if to say, Shall we play?
Then madness would ensuebeyond description.
Emily finally understood Mrs. Brown, though she didnt condone her plan. She knew, no matter the chaos or the exhaustion, she could never do the samenever abandon Oscar.
Yet there were benefits worth mentioning. First, Emily stopped wondering what she was missing in her life. The question just vanished.
Second, she became expert at tidying up quicklybefore Oscar woke up to “help”.
And the joy! So many moments of happiness in a single month.
Emily celebrated Oscars milestones just as any parent doesshe even wept with happiness the first night Oscar used the litter tray on his own, sparing her the nocturnal shuttles with a half-asleep kitten.
Oscar also developed other hobbies, such as turning the night light on and off for hours. In the end, Emily simply hid it awaylike the curtainsmaking the flat brighter and quieter.
Like any household, there were ups and downs. Emily took it all in her stride.
But after a month together, Emily made a remarkable discovery: she wasnt hosting Oscarshe was the guest in his flat.
All day, she worked; Oscar was master of the house. He greeted her at the door, saw her off in the morningsa proper head of the household.
Then she realised shed been wasting time looking for good hands for Oscar, when she was those loving hands herself.
She was ready to wake at any hour for his games, to stroke him as he stretched across her bed, somehow managing to occupy most of it.
She was ready, and she had no regrets. Because she loved himwith a love that grew unexpectedly, all from a moments kindness one strange November morning.
Oscar loved her too. He no longer woke her at dawn, but simply lay beside her quietly, waiting for her to stir.
And sometimes, she caught in his eyes a look that seemed to say, How long are you going to sleep, Emily? I miss you
In caring for Oscar, Emily learned what it meant to find happiness not by searching for it, but by letting kindness, however unplanned, take root in your life. Often, true joy arrives not in grand gestures, but in the quiet responsibility of loving and being lovedeven, or especially, unexpectedly.
