MamaGrace pulled us close to snuggle with her. “Let me tell you a love story.”
We were two days old. I p-p-purred. “Mama! I can purr.”
“Such a clever girl,” MamaGrace said. “Do you know what kind of cats purr best? Purr-sians! That’s us!”
PittyPat tried to purr, but it came out as a squeak. But Quincy purred!
Quincy and I purred and purred, cozy and comfy.
MamaGrace said, “Enough purring now. I need to tell you about your father.”
“Yes!” PittyPat said. “Where is he? When will we meet him?”
“His name is Albert.” MamaGrace’s voice turned deep as she talked about our father. “He’s a tortoiseshell Persian with a red-and-golden coat. But it’s his golden eyes that make him such a great actor. He’s got golden eyebrows, a golden chin, and a lovely gold streak down his face.”
I put my paw on MamaGrace’s leg. The longing in her voice thrummed through me. “You miss him?”
“They called us the Golden Ones. Albert and I were the stars of KittyTube.”
“What’s KittyTube?” I asked.
“It’s our internet channel to show our cat videos. A dozen years ago, a kind inventor gave cats a cat-to-human speech translator. Since then, we’ve been in control of our videos. We hire human camera operators and film editors and everything else.”
I shook my head in confusion. “But what about DaddyAlbert?”
MamaGrace nodded. “Together, Albert and I have over half of KittyTube’s overall views. People liked watching us.”
Quincy stood and bounced. “Where’s DaddyAlbert now?”
“Something happened, and we needed to change jobs. Albert looked for other work. There’s a French cat video company called LeChat Carré. That means ‘The Square Cat’ in French. They promised Albert the lead part in a Puss and Boots movie.”
I didn’t know what videos were, or French, either. Or lead parts or Puss and Boots. But it all made MamaGrace sad. I squirmed closer to her, wanting to comfort her.
“We knew you kittens were coming, so I stayed here. Albert flew to France.” MamaGrace’s tone turned hard. “But the movie deal fell through. Albert is stranded, with no money to come home.”
At her harsh voice, PittyPat, Quincy, and I shivered. We didn’t ever want MamaGrace mad at us.
“So, that’s it. Albert needs to come home. But we’ve no money left,” she said.
“What’s money?” PittyPat asked. “How do we get more of it?”
MamaGrace sighed. For a moment, she was quiet. Her rough tongue caught my cheek. I liked how she cleaned me.
“Money is what we use to buy food. Money pays for everything we do. I used to earn lots of money as an actress. But no more. You can’t see me yet,” MamaGrace said. “but…I’m ugly.”
“Ugly?” That was a strange word.
“A car ran over me last year,” she said.
“What’s a car?” PittyPat said.
“Later, when your eyes open, I’ll show you,” MamaGrace said. “For now, all you need to know is this: All our money is gone, spent on hospitals, doctors, and nurses. I limp, my right eye is blind, and my face is scarred. I was a great actress, the best…” Her voice caught, thick with heartache.
I snuggled so hard against MamaGrace that I felt her racing heart. “Mama?”
“It’s okay, Angel. I’m okay,” she whispered.
I yawned. My eyes were so heavy. I’d been awake for at least fifteen minutes already.
Finally she said, “I was a great actress, but no more.” She shook herself, a shiver that went from her ears to the tip of her tail. She stretched taller. “Now I’m a mother, and glad to be so.” She gave each of us a quick lick again.
It tickled, so I purred.
“But Albert is stuck in France. We need to bring him home. I’m asking for your help.”
Eagerly, Quincy said, “What can we do?”
PittyPat and I repeated together, “What can we do?”
MamaGrace took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling. “You can try acting. The Director—he’s the cat in charge of Majestic Kennels—says each of you has a great presence on camera.”
“Yes,” Quincy said. “Anything to bring our father home.”
But PittyPat wanted more information. “What’s acting?”
“It’s when you pretend to be someone else.” MamaGrace explained about video cameras and acting and lots more that I didn’t understand. But it didn’t matter. If MamaGrace wanted DaddyAlbert home, then I wanted DaddyAlbert home.
In the end, we all said, “Yes.”
It was decided. Quincy, PittyPat, and I would try acting. I would be an actress, just like MamaGrace.
I think it was inevitable. We were the children of the top KittyTube stars ever to come out of Majestic Kennels, the Golden Ones.
We were born to act.
I was born to act.