Kitten Sitter

"Where'd that dog come from?" Maribell asked, as she stepped into the breakfast room.

Megan glanced at the Chinese Crested curled up in the cat bed, next to three sleeping tiger striped kittens. "That's Che, she's babysitting Ginger's kittens."

"Where's Ginger?"

"She's in the backyard, stalking something by the brick wall."

"You're letting some ugly mongrel babysit my kittens!"

"Maribell, Che is not a mongrel, she's a Chinese Crested, and it is Ginger who's letting her babysit. She arrives every morning at precisely 6:00 A.M., waits at the backdoor until I let Ginger out. As Ginger goes out, Che comes in, and curls up next to the kittens."

"Who does Che belong to?"

"Somebody in the neighborhood, I guess."

"You know her name, but not who she belongs to."

"Her name's on her collar."

"Well," said Maribell stomping over to the cat bed. "Maybe there's a phone number on the collar." When she leaned down, Che growled at her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Megan smiled. "Che's very protective of those kittens."

"You expect me to treat this whole situation as normal?"

"No. I expect you to go to the refrigerator, open the freezer, remove the strawberry ice cream, and dip us three scoops."

"Three scoops?"

"Yes, little sister, one for you, one for Che, and one for me."

"You give that dog ice cream."

"Of course, you don't expect Che to kitten sit for free. Do you?