Shengliver’s Note: A new member has joined Qiuyi’s family.

One evening last week, when I got home from school, I heard a kitten meowing in the doorway. It seemed that it had been hanging around there for some time. Judging from the famished look in its eyes, it must be a stray cat. There are lots of them in lanes and alleys around the neighbourhood. After I opened the door, the creature simply followed me at my heels. Instantly my dad’s eyes were riveted on the meowing bundle of fur.

Dad has a soft spot for stray animals. All smiles, he bent down and picked it up. Studying the creature up and down, Dad found the cat injured in the leg. I suggested that we bandage it, but we worried that we were not professional enough. Since the pet clinic at the residential complex might have closed for the day, we settled the kitten in a cardboard box and left it with a dish of water and some meal. The box was put out in the doorway as we did not want to clean after the creature the next day. My parents and I expected the kitten might go away during the night.

The next morning, I opened the door, seeing the creature lingering there. No sooner had the door opened a crack than it clambered out of its makeshift home and limped in. Our home must have appealed a lot to the little sticky thing. I thought it would stay on with us.

It does. Now the cuddly Velcro feline is a new member of our family.