Pie in the Sky – Rosalia Scalia

“How do you know Rudy?” 

Andre shrugged. “Friend of my father’s. Aunt Helen works for him.”

Nonplussed by her hostility, he hummed the sea shanty and opened the box. 

“Helen never mentioned you,” Alice said.

Andre shrugged. “She never mentioned you either,” he said. “Until Rudy called about what’s in this box.”

Alice heard loud meows.

“Your dad asked me about them months ago. But they weren’t born yet. He planned to give them to you himself,” he said, pulling out two tuxedo kittens; both fit in his large hands. He handed one to Alice.

“Meet Sylvester and Luna,” he said. Both kittens had green eyes. “You need to get them spayed and neutered. You know the drill.” 

The male refused to be contained and wiggled free from Alice’s hands. Andre set Luna on the floor.

Alice felt her heart beating in the barrel of her chest. “Where did they come from?” She fished Sylvester from under the sofa and held his tiny body close. He purred into her neck. She tried holding them both close to her chest, but they wriggled free and scampered away. 

“My ex split and left me her pregnant cat. Rudy had said yours died.” 

“She was nineteen,” she said. 

“That’s a long life,” Andre said. 

He pulled two folders, one red and one blue, out of the box. “You need to sign these,” he said, handing her two sets of adoption papers. “Rudy already paid the adoption fees. Basically, you’re agreeing to get them fixed and to take them to the vet. They’ve had their first round. Due to the pandemic, I’ve been asking adopters to make written plans naming who’d take care of the cats if anything happened to the adopters.”

“That’s macabre,” Alice said. She signed and returned the papers. “It’s just me.”

He placed a sheet in each folder and kept two. “Nope. It’s practical.” 

“Who knew about this?”

“Everyone at Oliver’s Plumbing,” he said. “Rudy got all this,” he said, pointing to the contents in the box. He set a pair of litter mats on the floor, two stainless steel litter boxes atop and two large bags of litter. “He insisted on the stainless steel litter boxes, just so you know. He also got kibble and some cans of kitten food, enough for a month. That’s still in my car.”

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