Recently, the stray-cat population in our neighborhood has exploded, and Rob and I have been working to get all our new furry friends spayed/neutered and adopted. Right now, we’re focused on helping a shy little calico cutie named Carmen. We’ve been feeding her since September, but until about two weeks ago she wouldn’t let us touch her. She’d cry, calling to us, begging for food (and love), but then when we approached with her dish she’d run away—and she wouldn’t return to eat until she was sure we were back in the house.

During the months when she was calling to us then running away, she really tugged at our heartstrings because she seemed to lead such a hard, lonely life. She had no cat friends. In fact, all the other stray cats in the area seemed to pick on her. She was forever being chased, and she always had scratches and sores.

Then, on December 28, something wonderful and amazing happened! Carmen let herself be tamed.

I was in the backyard mulching around a coontie I’d just planted, and little Carmen was resting in the fallen leaves nearby.

“Look how close she is,” I said to Rob. “She followed me here.”

“Maybe you should try to pet her,” he suggested.

I kneeled in the leaves and reached out to her slowly with just one finger. She meowed loudly. Rob said, “Go ahead! Pet her! She’s asking you to.”

I petted her, tentatively at first. I thought she might start at my touch and run off, but she didn’t. She gazed at me, meowing loudly.

“She wants more!” Rob encouraged me.

I petted her adorable orange and black head.

“She’s small!” I said to Rob in a whisper. I hadn’t realized before how small and young she was—because I’d never gotten close enough to get a good look at her.

Rob came and crouched near us, and then he started petting her too.

Carmen was meowing loudly and purring.

“She’s so chatty!” Rob said.

We were on the south side of the backyard, under a little hackberry tree, among the needle palms and camellias. Carmen let her guard down completely and allowed herself be petted and petted. She rubbed against me. She gazed at me with her bewitching green-orange eyes.

“She’s so sweet!” I said. “She’s so cute. Her ears are really small.”

“They are really small,” Rob agreed.

“Extra small ears—that’s a really cute little trait,” I said. “And her nose is tiny. Look at her profile. See how tiny her nose is?”

“Oh, yes, it’s very tiny,” Rob said.

We kept petting her and noticing cute things about her.

“All her paws are white,” I said. “So it’s like she’s wearing little white gloves and shoes.”

Carmen was very happy. She was drooling.

“Do you think she might like to be brushed?” I asked Rob after a while.

“Sure she would,” Rob said.

“I’ll go get a brush,” I said. “You keep petting her while I’m gone.”

I came back and crouched again in the leaves, under the little hackberry tree, where Rob was petting Carmen. I began gently brushing her, and she purred and meowed at me while maintaining strong eye contact. She loved being brushed!

Rob and I stayed outside in the cold for a long time, holding Carmen and petting her and complimenting her. It began to get dark.

“It seems mean to go inside and leave her out here,” Rob said.

We did leave her outside that night, but the next night we were able to bring her in, to the warm, cozy Little House, the small outbuilding in the backyard that we use as an office. (All our cats are living in the main house now, so they won’t have to deal with a little calico interloper.) In the Little House, we treated her fleas and combed her and got her fur looking nice and silky. Then on January 8, we took her to Quincy Animal Hospital to be spayed and vaccinated. She had a thorough checkup and was given a clean bill of health. Hooray!

Carmen is definitely enjoying her new life as an inside cat. She likes blankets and easy chairs. She loves sitting on my lap and watching Outer Banks with me. (I tell Rob she has a crush on John B.) She’s even started playing—though very gently. Her favorite toy is a little soft downy feather.

Rob says, “She’s so small and she’s such a baby—that’s what makes her so cute! No offense to our other cats, but she may be about the cutest cat I’ve ever met!”

We’re hoping somebody might like to adopt Carmen, but if we can’t find her another home, we’ll keep her.