Miguel giggles.
Maybe he’ll give me another bowl of delicious food before I have to leave.
Mami and Papi pick up the box stuffed with blankets and move it closer. The three of them nod and smile at me.
Do they want me to get inside? But why?
I reach for the box with one front paw and then the other. No one stops me. I climb inside and snuggle under the pile of blankets. It’s perfect.
If only this perfect could last forever.
CHAPTER 4 Miguel
I jump out of bed and put on sweatpants and a hoodie over my pajamas.
“Miguelito, where are you going?” Mami calls from the kitchen.
“To see Lolo!” I grab the doorknob.
“Hold on!” Papi walks toward me sipping his coffee. “I’m going downstairs to the bodega soon. I’ll check in on him.”
“But I have to decorate his bed.” I show my parents the sign I made with Lolo’s name in puffy letters and a drawing of him and me.
“Ay, Miguel, it’s just an old box,” Mami says. “Why are you wasting time with all that?”
“And we haven’t said you can keep him yet,” Papi says. “Besides, a cat won’t appreciate decorations.”
I sigh. “I just want to, okay?”
My parents don’t understand that I love, love, love to draw. Art makes me happy, and I know it makes lots of other people—and maybe cats—happy too.
But there’s no point in trying to explain it to them. “I’m going downstairs to glue this on the box.”
Papi glances at Mami and shrugs. She points a spoon at me. “Okay, but come right back to eat breakfast. And when your bodega chores are done, you can walk to the animal clinic with him. I’ll call Dr. Gómez so she’ll be expecting you.”
“Yes!” I race downstairs and head straight to Lolo’s box. But … where is he? I feel under the blankets. No Lolo.
Did he run away? Did someone break in and steal him?
I blink back tears and search the bodega for him. I told my parents we should bring him upstairs with us last night, but they said no. That we had to make sure he was healthy first. They never listen to me. And now—
“Lolo! There you are!”
Something is dangling from his mouth.
“What do you have there, buddy?”
He turns away and hunches over the thing.
I peek over his shoulder. He’s munching on a mouse! Yuck!
“Poor little guy. Is this what you ate when you lived alone in the cold?” I walk to the middle aisle and pull a can of cat food from the bottom shelf. Splink.
As soon as the can pops open, Lolo is next to me sniffing the air.
“Here you go, Lolito,” I whisper as I empty the can into a bowl.
The door leading to our apartment opens. “Miguel!” Papi calls.
“Over here!” I say. “Lolo was eating a mouse!”
Papi comes over and nods at Lolo. “Good job, Lolo! Maybe Norberto was right, and the mice will stay away if we have a cat.”
My heart skips. Papi wants Lolo to stay too! All we need now is for Mami to come around.
“He needs a litter box,” I say.
“Hmm, yes, I suppose you’re right.” Papi reaches for the cat litter. “Empty that box of chips and put it in the bathroom. Then pour some of this into the box.”
Inside the bathroom, I open the bag of litter then glance at the doorway. Lolo’s little face is peeking in at me.
“Lolo, this is for you.”
He creeps closer and sniffs the box. When he steps inside, I leave the room to give him privacy.
I get my drawings, glue them on his bed, and step back to admire my work.
