Amanda's Surprise

Amanda was a very excited 9 year old child. She and her Approved Guardian, Lila (hers happened to be her natural mother), had been invited to a friend's compartment in another building to see something special! There was a real, live cat there, she'd been told, not a robotic pet like she had, but a flesh-and-blood real cat. And something else, a surprise, though Amanda couldn't think what might be a better surprise than the cat.

Of course, she loved her Robotic Pet, that she had named Mickles. She'd had Mickles since she was 7 and allowed to choose the type of Robotic Pet she wanted. She'd been naturally drawn to the small, white, furry and soft Cat kind more than any of the Dog kinds, and very happy to get it. Was it a boy or a girl, she had asked Lila at the time, and Lila said Robotic Pets weren't either one, so she thought Mickles was a good name for it.

At the appointed time on No-Work Day, Amanda and Lila rang the buzzer at the friend's compartment and were ushered in by Mrs. Byner. Mrs. Byner was quite old, one of the few remaining females who had Mrs. in front of their names, and Amanda liked her. So did Lila, who called her "Mom" for short.

"Come and see", smiled Mrs. Byner, and led them to a crib in a corner of the large room. There lay a cat of many colors, and snuggled close to her were four tiny cats; one orange, one black and white, one all black, and one white with red and grey patches. Amanda gasped in delight. Kittens! She had read about those in a story book!

The stories said there used to be cats and kittens everywhere in long-ago days, before "companion animals" were outlawed and the great Pet Virus swept over the land. Now kittens were rarely heard of, except those created in Foundation laboratories for continuation of endangered species.

"Oh! Can I touch them?" asked Amanda.

"Yes, of course. Be very gentle with them. They're only a few weeks old"

"I will", Amanda promised, and began to stroke the tiny, soft bodies. The mother cat purred, and Amanda stroked her, too. What a lovely purr it was, much better than Mickles' purr.

"Well!" said Lila, "I knew you found her but I didn't know this!"

"You should come over more often, dear", was the reply.

"What are you feeding her?" Lila asked, and Mrs. Byner replied "Oh, I have plenty of rations."

"Where did you find the sand for that commode box under the crib?" was the next question, and Mrs. Byner answered with a wink, "It wasn't easy."

And the big question:"Where's the male?", to which the soft reply was "I have no idea."

"Are you going to report this?"

"Not yet." And the conversation turned to whispers.

Amanda held each little kitten to her heart for a few minutes. How precious they were! And how sweet the gentle mother that allowed her to. She particularly loved the little white one with colored patches, and it was hardest to give that one back to its mother. Amanda knew she would always remember this day.

And now the story of Amanda's surprise will come to an end. To her joy, Mrs. Byner was allowed by special dispensation to keep the many-colored cat, and the two of them passed away only a few weeks apart when Amanda was 16. The cat's three kittens were turned over to the Foundation when they were weaned, as was required by law. Three kittens? Yes, as they all recalled, there were three.

Amanda grew much closer to Mickles and learned to care for her pet differently, for she loved Mickles with all her heart. And Mickles had, unnoticed by others, suddenly developed patches of red and grey in her white fur one day when Amanda was still 9 years old.