In late March, 2006, a new cat showed up in the neighborhood. One day when I got home from work, a calico cat came running across the neighbor's lawn and greeted me as though I were a long-lost friend. She was an adult but probably pretty young, lean but not underfed, and seemed to be in good shape. And she was very friendly. The builder who was putting up houses across the street from me was over there, and he said she'd been hanging around for a couple of days, wanting to make friends with his workmen.

The next day she was there to greet me again, and this time my next-door neighbor was getting home at the same time and said she'd also seen the calico hanging around. We figured she must have just moved into the area recently, but she was running all over the immediate neighborhood. I hadn't seen her at night, though, so I was hoping she might go home then.

Well, that evening around 8:30 I heard a light knock on my door, and when I looked out there was one of the Hispanic guys from the little apartment block next door, holding the calico cat. When I opened the door, he smiled and presented her to me. (I assume he'd seen me petting her the day before -- either that, or I'm just known as the neighborhood Crazy Cat Lady.) I explained that she wasn't mine, but figured I'd offer her a meal in the garage where I cater to strays.

I gave her some canned food out there and she dug into that with gusto. Afterward she sat in my lap for a while, and when I put together a warm, soft bed in a box for her, she settled down there for the night. By the next morning she was gone, and when I didn't see her again I hoped she had a home and had gone back there.

No such luck, of course. About a month later she resurfaced. I was getting ready for work one morning when the doorbell rang. I found my next-door neighbor on the doorstep, holding the calico, whom she had found crying in a tree in her front yard. In the rain. Since I had mentioned previously that I'd be willing to take in the cat if she needed a home, my neighbor promptly brought her over to me.

This was the second time someone had shown up at my door and presented me with this cat. Sometimes you just have to accept that the Cat Gods have made up their minds. I took in the calico, got the usual vet-check and vaccinations done, had her spayed, and named her Evadare. She was about a year old when I took her in, and healthy but a bit underweight.

Evadare loves being a housecat. Apparently that was all she wanted; she settled into my household like she'd lived there all her life. She's grown a little and filled out, and is a very lively, active cat who plays a lot. She gets along well with the rest of the clan, and romps with some of the younger ones.