Some months before, when Wild Child Mama cat was not much more than a kitten, she met a cat that had lived in this house. He was a big kind fellow. He found the Pink Feet when they still lived in the city. He had a bit of a struggle to move in as their two other cats were not very welcoming. But he was determined. The Pink Feet called him Huffle – because he huffed a lot. When she met him, he was a sad fellow. He’d lost his best friend a few weeks before – a tuxedo cat that he had invited to move in too. He’d lived with nasty humans up the road who did not take care of him. The Pink Feet named him Stretchy. But Stretchy only lived a short life. Huffle missed him a lot, his heart was broken. He soon went off to join Stretchy in the Heavenly realm.

Huffle had told her that the Pink Feet were good to him. That they loved him very much– as much as she loved her little son. She couldn’t believe that! They even stroked and brushed him, which he absolutely adored – something she couldn’t understand. How could those funny pink furless fingers be friendly and comforting? She was in no hurry to find out! As for brushing! What weirdness! That’s what cat tongues were designed for.

In the wee hours of the morning when they prowled the neighbourhood, Wild Child Mama Cat began to think that perhaps regular nourishing food, shelter from the rain and scary storms, a safe space and a nice warm bed might be quite pleasant. Before the big gentle cat disappeared, he told her stories about a project – the Adopt-A-Human project – sometimes also referred to as Hijack-A-Human. Many cats did this, he said. They tracked down humans they thought would be worthy of having cat companions, and moved in. These humans respected cats – they were called Cat People. From what he’d told her, she knew these Pink Feet humans were like that, but she wasn’t sure that she actually wanted to adopt or hijack any Pink Feet.

The Wild Child had been born in the bush. Her mother disappeared when she was very young and she was left alone to fend for herself. She didn’t even have a colony of feral cats to join up with. There were, however, many boy cats on the prowl and before she knew it, she had children of her own. Only one survived and she loved him to distraction. He was the centre of her world. Her life had been difficult. She didn’t want him to suffer as much as she had. For that reason, she decided that, no matter what the Pink Feet were planning, she and her son would commit to the human adoption project.