“Mother, how long is it now until they come?” asked Emily.
“The vet said it will be about another week, Emily. Let me mark it on the calendar for you. Here’s today, the eighth. Right around the 15th, Sooty’s kittens should be born,” said Mother.
“Can’t she hurry it up a little?” fretted Emily.
“I’m afraid not, Emily, the kittens have to grow big enough to be born. If they come early they could die.”
“I hope they’ll be at least three. Aunt Cindy wants one and Sherry wants one and Uncle Mike wants one to give to Amiejo,” Fawn announced.
“I just wish they’d come,” said Emily, while she was stroking her cat Sooty. “Sooty’s tummy is so big and she’s sleepy all the time and doesn’t want picked up and she won’t play anymore.”
“Well, it will be at least a week yet, so you will just have to be patient.”
The week seemed to go terribly slow for Emily. She had arranged a big box with towels for Sooty to have her kittens in. She and Fawn had made some toy mice for the kittens to play with out of some left over furry jacket lining. Every day Emily put Sooty in the box and told her what it was for. She kept the box in the kitchen near Sooty’s food dish and close to the heater so it would be warm.
Finally the day came for Sooty’s kittens to be born. Emily put her cat in the box right after breakfast and waited. Sooty got out of the box and Emily put her back in. Finally, Sooty hid under the couch and wouldn’t come out to eat.
By suppertime Emily was nearly crying.
“Sooty won’t come out from under the couch,” said Emily. “Doesn’t she like me anymore? Maybe she is mad at me and decided not to have her kittens after all.”
“Now, Emily, Sooty’s babies are just taking a little more time to grow. They’ll come when they’re good and ready. Sooty is hiding under the couch because she doesn’t want to be bothered. She’s just resting. Don’t worry.” Mother gave her a hug and went to set the table.
Soon it was bedtime. Just after Mother tucked Emily into bed, Sooty came into Emily’s room. With a loud meow, she settled down to sleep at the foot of Emily’s bed, just as she always did. Emily petted her for a minute and settled down to go to sleep.
Emily woke with a start. What was the matter with Sooty? She never meowed that loud before. Emily turned on her lamp.
Oh! What a surprise! Sooty was having her kitties on Emily’s bed! Emily ran to get Mother. “Mommy, Mommy, Sooty’s having her kittens!”
“What? Oh, that’s fine, honey. Just go back to bed and we’ll count them in the morning.” Mother turned over and got ready to go back to sleep.
“But I can’t go back to bed. Sooty’s having kittens in my bed. If I roll over, I could hurt them.”
“What? Oh, dear!” Mother and Daddy both jumped out of bed and ran to Emily’s room.
Fawn was already there. “Look! She’s got two white ones and one black one,” said Fawn as she patted Sooty on the head. Just then, Sooty laid her head back and meowed loudly as she pushed out another kitten. She leaned down and licked it. The kittens made little squeaky sounds as they snuggled up to Sooty and started to nurse.
“I guess Emily will sleep in our room tonight. I’ll change the bed in the morning after we are sure she’s finished having kittens. We’ll take Sooty and her kittens down to her box in the morning,” sighed Mother.
“You know, Sooty having her kittens on your bed reminds me that Jesus said he would come ‘as a thief in the night.’ We may be just as surprised as Emily was over these kittens when Jesus comes back,” said Daddy.
“Yes, except we won’t have to get up for work the next day. Let’s all go back to bed,” Mother replied.
“Can we thank Jesus for the kittens first?” asked Emily.
“I think that would be a very good idea,” said Daddy as they folded their hands and knelt around Emily’s bed.