What have I just done? 10 minutes ago, I was planning to come in here and write about BLUG demos, ruminations about life, and my future. But now, there is a little furry creature standing next to my chair, using its vocal chords to produce sonic vibrations that rip at my heart.

It started on the stairway up to my dad's apartment. It meowed at me. I looked at it, transfixed. Then I responded, just as I had done with Kira.

It started rubbing up against me, and pawing me.

"Which neighbor do you belong to?" I commented. Then I started petting it.

It followed me up the stairs.

It had no collar. I could feel the bones on its back. I had never seen it wandering around here before. This animal was so skinny that I ventured an educated guess that it did not belong to any neighbors around here. It had probably been wandering the streets and snuck in the outer door when somebody propped it open. A stray.

It meowed some more. With my recently renewed empathy for cats during my stay at Yanthor and Humblik, my fate was sealed the moment I opened the apartment door and let it wander in. My dad recently left on a road trip of his own not long ago, so I have temporary charge of his apartment.

I contemplated possible consequences. Rationality tells me that there's no way I can keep this thing. But why not help such a hungry, tiny little animal survive a little longer, and a little better today, even if I won't be able to help it tomorrow?

I hunted around in my dad's fridge, and found a can of milk. (If I hadn't found one, I would have been ready to go out to the supermarket and buy some.)

I struggled for a couple minutes with my dad's wierd-ass can opener, trying to convince it to work. Meanwhile, little Patches (tentative name) was having such a hard time waiting that he kept leaping up on the counter to sniff at the can. Well, maybe I can try to teach this cat some manners too.

I gently picked him up off the counter (or is it a her? haven't really checked yet), and gently put him down on the floor. Five times. "I know you're hungry, but won't get any until you stay on the floor long enough to let me get it open."

The can opener was continuing to give me trouble, and Patches kept leaping up. So eventually, I compromised, knelt down on the floor, and worked on opening the can there while little Patches sniffed and meowed.

I poured the milk into a bowl, and he drank some (but nowhere near all) of it. Now he's wandering around the apartment, occassionally coming back to my chair, and meowing at me, like a pleading little screech. Now he's laying contentedly on the couch.

When he meows, it feels like he's asking for help, but I don't know what he wants. I put out milk and water for him. I petted him. I held him, he purred for a minute, and then got up and kept wandering around.

I fear that this is a situation that can only end badly for both of us. What have I done? I can't be keeping pets. Can I?

Patches, where did you come from? How did you appear and manage to entrance me so quickly? What are you?

He's mostly white, but all over his back, there are big brown and black spots. He's so light and skinny. And he does have his front claws (though he hasn't shown any sign of attempting to use them in a hostile manner). So I should probably watch him around the furniture.

The saddest part of this is that I can't even let him stay in this apartment overnight. They're coming to resurfing the counters tomorrow, and it won't be safely habitable for anybody with an unprotected respirating system. Not even me.

So I have to either do the unthinkable, and put him out on the streets again, take him over to mom's, and try to keep him away from her allergic system in my room (I'd almost want to do it without her knowledge, but that seems almost untenable, especially given his vocal nature). Or figure something else out.

Now he's on the table in front of me, qjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj looking at me and getting petted between keystrokes.

And learning how to type. That big word full of j's was his contribution to this rambling.

Oh dear. What has happened? This is moving entirely too fast. Life surprises you in ways you never thought it would.

What can I do? What can I do?