It’s been a long month or two since I’ve written anything
like this, but it was a needed couple of months. It’s been a couple months of
growing pains and laughter, complete with everything from Hirsch’s propensity
for setting off the fire alarm to testing out my dad’s Shirley Temple recipe on
my friends. I’ve come to feel more or less at home here. I no longer fear (or
relish in) getting lost late at night, a feeling I may have to find a way back
to again sooner or later. But, for all the normality I’ve managed to find, Bard
still manages to surprise me from time to time.
For this story, I need to give you an idea of the geography
of my fine campus, or at least a portion of it. We’re a small college in the
middle of the woods; Bard is refreshingly like my home in New Hampshire in that
respect. I live in one of the quiet dorms, which is off of main campus and separated
from it by a patch of forest. It is possible to get to main campus by taking
main roads, but it takes much longer. The quickest path is through the little
college graveyard, which cuts through the section of woods.
You also need to know something about the local wildlife, or
rather one element in particular: kittens. Cats pretty regularly roam the
campus, likely because some of the dorms leave cat food on their porches for
local strays. Right now we have a gang of little grey and white kittens that
look like they can’t be more than a month old, and they seem to have taken up
residence near Hirsch. With those facts in mind, we can begin.
My roommate and best friend had to be out past dark for a
variety of reasons tonight. As she approached the unlighted shortcut through
the graveyard she realized her phone, and only source of light, was low on
batteries. She was nervous to make the trek alone with the possibility of her
light source dying, so she called me and I left the dorm with my own
mostly-charged phone to meet her.
On the way down the hill that leads to our dorm, I came
across one of these grey and white kittens. I smiled at in and said, “Hey
sweetie. Don’t worry. I’m not gonna bother you.” Then I continued on my
mission. But I wasn’t alone. The little grey and white kitten followed me, then
eventually trotted in front of me, weaving back and forth in front of my feet.
Occasionally it batted at the dead fall leaves as we made our way through the
graveyard to reach my roommate. It was clearly playful. It kind of reminded me
of my dad’s cat, Junior, in his kittenhood.
When we reached the other end of the graveyard, it seemed
like the kitten was going to leave me, but it trotted along with me and my
roommate back through the graveyard. As we walked, we talked about how lively
and sweet it was. Eventually we started calling it Angel, because it seemed to
be trying to be a tiny, adorable guardian angel in the middle of the star-lit
night. It even followed us all the way to the porch of Hirsch. When we got
there, we met another friend and dorm mate, who brought a bowl of milk out for
Angel, a sweet kitten who clearly deserved a better life.
As soon as we got back inside, I emailed Bard’s head of
security about the kittens on campus, hoping that there was something we could
do to find them homes. The head of security immediately found a home for Angel
and said that if I could catch the kitten, a good home would be waiting for it.
My hope is that my roommate and I can catch Angel before the snow starts to
fall. Hopefully she’s living close by. I still want to do something for the
other kittens on campus if I can, but I’m more than happy to start with Angel.
