the black cat named magic

I have always loved pets, well pets of the warm blooded and fluffy kind. This doesn’t mean that I have a disdain for other kinds of pets, its just a personal preference. I found that it’s a lot more comfortable to me to snuggle up with a warm ball of fur than to try that with an iguana for instance.
I grew up in the country and that made it easier to have pets. The pets we had were of the standard verity. Cats, dogs, fish and even a hamster. At one point we even had some chickens, a goat and for one night we even had a sheep (never go shopping for a poodle drunk) but that is another story . My wife however did not grow up with any inside pets. Just two geese. Geese that loved to defecate on the front porch. That experience had turned her off on having any pets. The mere thought of having an animal roaming around the house disgusted her. Sometimes, in our lives something comes along and changes how we feel. About twenty years ago that “something” came along…
One chilly morning my wife went outside to start the car. While sitting in the drivers seat waiting for the car to warm up for the kids ride to school. She felt something staring at the back of her head as she turned around Suddenly I heard a scream and as I was on my way out the door she was rushing in.
“something is in the car!” she exclaimed.
“what was it? Did you see it?” I asked
“I don’t know you idiot! Its something big and black! It hit me in the back of the head! Just go take care of it!”
So out I went. The frosted grass crunched under my feet as I walked towards the car to investigate. The car was running and the door was left open. This of cores was being announced by the annoying buzzer. I though to my self this is how people get killed on horror movies. I immediately countered that thought with the fact that this was real life, not some cheesy b movie. This of course was immediately countered by the huge black mass that was in the drivers seat.
“what the hell?” I asked out loud and in response the mass started to move. It began to uncoil and stretch. Then two glowing green eyes appeared followed by gleaming white fangs. I immediately took a stepped back as memories of the horror movie “Critters” flashed through my mined. As I did my right foot found a small patch of ice causing me to fall backwards and land flat on my ass. Before I was able to recover the beast landed on my chest. I found myself staring up into those green eyes.
“meow” the creature, which by now I realized was a cat, said. Then it began to knead and purr. When I say kneed understand that this cat was digging its claws through my coat and shirt all the way down into my skin. Then there was the purr. The sound that the cat was making was more like the sound of a Harley Davidson being revved a block over that the purr of a cat. This in turn was accompanied by the rumbling sensation one would get if they were front row at a Metallica concert. after the shock had worn off I gathered myself along with the cat and made my way back inside the house. I barely had made it through the door before my wife bombarded me with a series of rapid fire questions.
"did you see it? what was it? is it dangerous? is it still out there? did you chase it off? was it a bear?" before i could answer a single question one of my daughters Nicole ,the middle child, notice the black cat i was holding in my arms.
"kitty!" she exclaimed as she rushed over and reached for the cat. i put the cat down on the floor. My son Ben had now taken interest and joined Nicole in playing with the cat.
"mom can we keep it?" they both asked as Christie the oldest joined us in the front room.
"look Sis!" Ben chirped out "it's a cat!"
"Oh wow," she replied "i see pre school is really paying off." hearing such sarcasm from my six year old daughter filled me with a pride, that i had to immediately suppress, as my wife scolded her. "Don’t pick on your brother." Ben, being three at the time, could not care less as he and Nicole were now tag teaming us asking in unison "can we keep it, can we keep it?"
" Sure we can keep it if it doesn't belong to anyone." i replied while my wife gave me a quick look of strong disagreement.
"if we keep it, it will have to stay outside." she added quickly. the kids agreed as I just smiled wondering just how long that the cat would stay an outside pet.
little did I know at the time how much of a member of the family that this black cat would come to be