Cole

A year and half ago on a warm spring day a surprise was discovered in our garage. My children came into the house whispering in a conspiratoral voices that immediately sent "mom alert" up to full force. I aske dhtem what they were talking about and they immediately denied anything and sent each other glances that spoke volumes that the little stinkers were up to no good. I casually asked  how the garage cleaning was coming along since that was what they were suppose to be doing. "Fine! Done!" came the quick responses. I decided that I had better go check on this myself so out i went. At first I did not see anything amiss and the garage looked in good order so I put all suspicions aside.
Later that day after my kids made several more "inconspicuous" trips out to the garage I knew something was up and started my own investigation into the matter. Finally I had the proof I needed- a strange cat noise that sounded like it was dying or at least in extreme pain. I quickly went out to investigate but was not as fast as the children. There they both stood trying to look like angels and that I was just hearing things in my old age. Soon the noise echoed amongst the walls again and thy could no longer deny the existence of a strange cat being in the garage.
Timidly out straggled a black cat that looked like he had gone a few rounds in the boxing ring and had not seen a decent meal in days. One look at the cat and then the kids told me that the conversation to follow this appearance was not going to be fun. "Mom, can we keep it? Look it is hungry. It is so friendly, see how she rubs against us begging to be petted?" Me: "NO! NO! WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER CAT!"
I did agree that they could give the cat some food but they had to find where it came from and return it to its owners.
Two days later it was still residing in the garage with several attempts to come into the house. Angel, my sweet lovely welcome  committee became a permanent fistrue by the backdoor with the constant growling and hissing of "Do you feel lucky? Well do ya?!" I was getting ready for the party we were having to celebrate spring and my graduation from NIC so the cat was the last thing I thought about except when he would try to whiz past me as I entered the house. My schildren assured me they had canvased a three block radius with no luck in finding the owners. This was followed by the pleading and promises of keeping and taking care of him. I loved the arguments of "we alreadey have 2 so one more won't be that big of a difference." They even gave her the name of Bella.
Finally my heart was weakening my stern stance and I found myself petting the cat. I decided to give it a thorough once over to see how badly it was beaten up. Imagine my surprise when the one of hte first things I discovered was that Bella was actually a Bill. I laughed and told the children the news. This led to the debate of what woudl be a good male name and soon Cole it became. The next step was letting him into the house.
I know tha ttemporary insanity had taken ahold of me for this could only lead to disaster considering Angel had been very vocal about her opinion of the possible newest addition. Sam, my daughter's STD cat, jus tbounced on Cole and then would walk away. He really was clueless about what was going to happen.
Cole walked into the house for hte first time, at least ot my knowledge, as if he was home. Immediately he  went to the food dish, ate, and then he headed to the litter box and left a nice present there. The next stop was to the couch where Angel was napping with one eye open. He jumped up; laid beside her; started purring loudly and fell asleep. The three human occupants wathced this with trepidation. Angel looked at him, closed both eyes and slept.
It was a miracle and a sign form Heaven that this cat was meant to be a part of our family. He was taken to the vet, all checked out to be healthy and he was already neutered. I feel sorry for ht family that lost this loving cat and yet grateful he is a part of ours. He has created a sense of peace amongst the other two cats. If Cole is around Angel will tolerate Sam. They all sleep together on my bed during the day. They all take turns at the food dish, with Cole eating last and Angel eating first; we have three dishes so ths is not necessary but funny to watch at times.
Until my granddaughter arrived my som said there was a balance of genders with three of each - I am afraid that he is plotting to bring home some male creature soon to reestablish the balance again.