Birthday Shift by Desconhecido(a)

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    “Happy Birthday!
I hope this gift makes all your dreams come true,” Molly Jenkins read from the
card on top of the large box that had been sitting outside her apartment door
when she’d arrived home. “Who left this here?” she wondered aloud.
    She bent and
hefted the box, noticing the air holes. Hmmm. The only kind of box with air holes has
something alive inside.
    She leaned her
face close to the box and peered in. Black fur.
    “Meow!”
    Now Molly
grinned. A kitty!
    She loved cats.
But who had dumped this mystery feline on her doorstep, and why hadn’t they
left their name?
    Shelving the
curiosity for now, she leaned the box against her hip and twisted her key into
the door. She half-walked, half-nudged her way inside, toeing the door shut,
and then set down the box.
    Unable to wait
any longer, especially when the cat mewed again, Molly opened the lid and
looked upon the most sleekly beautiful black cat she'd ever seen. Smooth
obsidian fur covered his body, and when he looked at her, emerald green eyes
held her own in an entrancing gaze.
    A shiny silver
collar curled around his neck. When he shifted in the box, Molly noticed a
little card under his foot. She reached for it, and the cat rubbed his nose
against her wrist, flicking out his little pink tongue to lick her briefly.
    Molly giggled
with pleasure. “Aren’t you a cutie?”
    She slid out the
little pink envelope and opened it. The plain card inside read: From your best friend, because you need
company sometimes!
    Now Molly’s
giggle turned into a full blown laugh. Yes, as a freelance writer she did tend
to get lonely, living on pasta dinners for one, and cereal for lunch. She
walked to clear her head, sometimes only talking to herself or her notebook.
But she preferred it that way, and besides, her forays into romance had never ended
well – if they had begun properly or at all. She just didn’t do so well at
getting along with people.
    Her best friend,
Lil, whom she’d known since college and a constant in her life, had decided to
take action.
    “And I’m glad she
did, yes I am,” Molly chuckled, scooping the cat from the box and cuddling him
close. She looked for a name tag on his collar, and spied a shiny metal disc
that read simply Cade.
    “Then Cade you
shall be.” She snuggled the cat close, and he purred his pleasure, the sound
making Molly’s heart soar. Maybe Lil had been right. She did need company. And
if Lil was determined to get her a friend, this had to be one of the best
outcomes.
    As Molly stroked
Cade’s fur something under the tissue paper in his box caught her eye, and when
she saw it she smiled. Lil had thoughtfully included three sachets of cat food,
and a small ceramic bowl, split into two for water and food, along with yummy
treats.
    The
ever-thoughtful best friend had even included – Molly laughed out loud – a hot
pink litter tray and a small bag of cat litter. Lilac scented. Molly had to
love her friend’s sense of humor.
    Unfortunately,
presents and cuddles with the cat didn’t detract from the fact that Molly
needed a shower. Being on the subway with lots of men who perhaps didn’t
deodorize as much as they should had seriously taken its toll, and the hot
spray of water would wake her up after the hours of researching in a
stale-aired library. She set Cade down on the wooden floor of her poky, or
cozy, as New Yorkers called a one bedroom apartment, and headed to her bedroom,
where she stripped off her clothes, laying them on her double bed, then
gratefully escaping into the shower, where hot water beat down on to her skin
and cascaded through her long, strawberry-blonde hair. She let the heat wash
away the stress and scents of the day, and a few minutes later, smelling
sweetly of coconut and almond body wash, she wrapped a towel around herself.
      She’d totally forgotten that the door was
ajar, and when Cade mewed as she passed him, Molly swallowed a shriek