Although we should have been psychologically prepared, Kitten’s appearance shocked me and Cat. It was unthinkable enough to have spat up such a huge hairball, let alone for it to start moving, to demand food and water, to stumble around as it learned to walk. Feeling threatened, Cat glared warily at the newcomer, and I had to reassure him that Kitten wasn’t here to replace him. I wasn’t thinking of them as New Cat and Old Cat, only as Cat and Kitten.

Husband hadn’t come home yet, so we had the flat to the three of us. Cat stared at Kitten, who stared back at him, and I stared at them both. Just the three of us, existing in the same space and time. I understood very clearly in that moment that I hadn’t lost a cat but rather gained one.

I picked up Kitten from the ground to pet her and look at her more closely. She was tiny enough that I could hold her in my palm, even smaller than Cat when I first found him. She was completely silent and felt very light as I held her. Her fur was sparse but very fluffy.

She looked completely innocent, and her eyes were wide with wonder at the world. All of a sudden, I was overjoyed. I held her up to Cat and said, “Look!” Out of nowhere, he leaped into the air and retreated about a meter. I thought I must have moved too abruptly and startled him, but when I very slowly came closer, he kept going backward. I stopped, and he stayed what he regarded as a safe distance away, still eyeing Kitten. I brought her back to the sofa and kept playing with her.

When Husband got home, he was much calmer than me at the sight of Kitten. “We might as well keep her,” he said. “It’s just as easy to have two cats as one.” Besides, we’d already been thinking of getting a kitten: a playmate for Cat, another little friend for us. Now our wish had come true. How marvelous! I explained to him that a hairball had transformed into Kitten, and he said we’d wanted another cat so much she could have transformed out of anything.

That was true. It turns out hairballs don’t just look like cats, they actually are cats. Every cat is just one big hairball rolling around on the floor.

Cat very quickly came to accept Kitten. To start with, he treated her like a ball of wool, chasing her around or holding her to his chest and worrying at her with his hind paws and teeth, just as he did with his favorite toys. Kitten cried out at this torture but never tried to take revenge. It was as if she had no memory and could forget Cat’s nastiness right away. A moment after each incident, she’d go peaceably up to him again, snuggling by his side. She clung to him all day long like glue and refused to be separated.

Eventually, Cat got used to being clung to. Now, when he’s wrapped around Kitten, he no longer bites her but rather licks her head over and over again.