She's Hiding Under the Table

Wild Kittens Grandmama Ola had wild kittens in the old shack next to her farmhouse. The little girl in red watched her put leftover lunch into the chipped enamel pan. She mixed in dry cat food, powdered milk, and rusty water. Her grandmother didn’t talk much because this was important work. Grandmama Ola did important work like feeding wild kittens after each meal and cooking oatmeal for Mary Margaret when she woke up in the morning. The grandmother carried the cat feast out the back screen door. The door squeaked at her. The little girl in red followed Grandmama Ola, but the grandmother waved at her granddaughter to stay back. Wild kittens don’t like little girls, not even a little girl in red. Wild kittens only like grandmothers. Mary Margaret sat on the cold concrete steps. Grandmama Ola crossed the yard, and she disappeared into the small one-room building that the grownups called the Old Kitchen. The little girl in red saw big kitty cats race across the yard when her grandmother talked in cat talk. Cat talk sounds like this: Here kitty kitty. In cat talk, “Here kitty kitty” means I love you. Mary Margaret didn’t see any wild kittens, but she knew that they were there. My Boy told her and My Boy doesn’t lie about important things like kittens. The little girl in red grew tired of sitting on the steps, so she hid under the house and sat in the cool gray dirt. I am a wild kitten, she thought. Grandmama Ola can’t see me, but she knows that I am here.