Kay moved a small overnight bag from one seat of her settee and plonked herself down in the space. How did she come to have so much stuff? It must have multiplied rapidly in the moving van.
Somewhere in the house was her comb, her make up, hopefully her toothbrush. Running her hand through her shoulder length blonde hair Kay felt the knots and shuddered. During the week she was never usually seen without a smart suit, full war paint and a neat French pleat in her hair. Even at weekends she would pull it back with bands or clips. Her colleagues at work wouldn't believe she could look quite so scruffy.
"Relaxed, stressed out but relaxed, if that's possible."
She had always promised herself a smart townhouse as soon as she could afford the deposit and six months earlier had met her target. Now all she had to do was keep up the mortgage repayments and it was hers forever.
The rain continued to pelt against the windows and she heard the unmistakable sound of a cat flap being used. A bedraggled and obviously deeply insulted black and white cat walked towards her and stopped. It was waiting for something, Kay just wasn't sure what the something was.
A sigh escaped her as she got to her feet. Even sitting for a couple of minutes showed her how out of condition she was. There was a gym just a few minutes from her new home though and that was another thing on her 'to do' list. Annual membership.
A box on the longer kitchen counter said, amongst other things, 'tea towels' on the label and she rummaged until she found a slightly fluffy one and returned to the living room. The cat had made itself comfortable in the vacated space on the settee and Kay leant over and began rubbing the damp fur. A deep purring sound emanated from the monochrome animal and she smiled. Maybe she had just been adopted.
The rain continued for the entire day and Kay, not having a chance to do anything else, found herself unpacking far more than she thought she would on her first day in her new home.
The main bedroom, bigger by far than in her old apartment, was almost exactly as she wanted it by three in the afternoon, and Kay surveyed the sky before deciding she would leave going to the supermarket and order in.
Moving into the spare room she looked out onto her new street and saw only three cars on other driveways. Usually she wouldn't be home either this early in the afternoon, her job at a nearby employment agency keeping her busy until gone six each evening.
The house which adjoined her own looked quiet but its garden was neat and tidy with cheerful daffodils fighting against the heavy rain. The same couldn't be said for her own. The previous owners had admitted they weren't interested in gardening at all and had been tempted to pave the entire thing. Kay was glad they hadn't done so but wished they had at least run the mower over the grass before they left. With the rain it would be a good few days before she would need to head off to the nearest garden centre and investigate whether or not she had green fingers.
Kay's first complete day in her new home dawned bright and clear. The rain clouds had totally disappeared and there was a warmth to her living room as she walked into it, cereal bowl in hand, that made her smile and want to hug herself.
The black and white cat was still quite happy on the settee and Kay made a mental note to add cat food to her shopping list as he had eaten her last can the previous evening. Kay hadn't known why she had even packed the one tin of food. Her own beloved cat had died just a week before she had been due to move, she hadn't planned on getting another one so soon; maybe she had been wrong.
Returning her empty dish to the kitchen, Kay picked up her cup of coffee and made her way back to the sofa, now clear of all but its cushions. As soon as she was comfortable the cat manoeuvred itself onto her lap and snuggled down, the deep purring filling the room once more.
"You are soppy. Friendly, but soppy." With the cup now on a coaster on the small table to her left Kay absentmindedly began stroking the animal, looking about her with a sense of satisfaction at a job well done.
The sound of an unfamiliar doorbell broke into the quiet and it took Kay a moment to realize it was hers. She moved out into the hallway and opened her front door to a guest for the first time, shocked to find an obviously distressed woman of about her age standing there.
"Umm, hi, I'm sorry to bother you, I live next door and I know you just moved in and everything, but I don't suppose you've seen a black and white cat have you?"
"Do you mean this one?" Kay, feeling the warmth behind her, stepped to one side.
"Oh, oh yes, oh, thank God. I thought he had run off or something. There was all that rain and Mark and Mary, they always left the cat flap open for her, but they said they would lock it before they left, and he likes a house with people in it and I was working and I didn't know where he would go and ... and ... I'm so sorry. He won't bother you again."
"It's not a problem. He's kept me company very nicely. The flap was open, he wandered in about lunchtime, made himself comfortable on my settee and he's been there ever since. Look, would you like to come in? My name's Kay by the way."
"Thank you, yes. I'm Jane, Jane Madigan."
Kay stepped back and let her voluble neighbour enter her home. She watched as Jane walked in front of her towards the living room, her cat now rubbing up her legs as she moved.
"His name is Whacky, a sort of combination of black and white." Jane stopped and turned in the doorway causing Kay to almost walk into the back of her.
"Oh, right, that helps. Please, sit down. Would you like a coffee or tea? It's about all I have right now, but you're very welcome."
"Thank you. Yes, coffee would be nice, black, two sugars, do you have sugar? I can run home and get some. Moving is fraught isn't it? I'm sorry, I sort of talk a lot when I'm nervous or upset and right now I'm both."
Jane sat down, shaking her head and then laughing self-consciously.
"I have sugar, and like I said it's not a problem. I don't bite, and I'm a definite cat person, so he fitted right in."
Kay went through to the kitchen, talking softly as she did so not wanting her guest to feel ignored. She hoped it might also make her feel less anxious so they could have a proper conversation.
The coffee was soon made and sitting down opposite her guest Kay smiled.
"How long have you lived next door?"
"Oh, just over a year. Mark and Mary were already here and as they had cats and Mary was home all day they let Whacky come into their house when he couldn't get into mine."
"Don't you have a flap of your own?" Kay wondered why it was the poor moggy wasn't allowed in its own home.
"I lived in London before, he was a house cat, and has no road sense at all. I even caught him sleeping in the sun in the middle of the street once. He was shredding the furniture and climbing the curtains though so Mary said she'd keep an eye on him. I am so glad they forgot to lock the cat flap before they left."
"Me too. I would have hated to find him injured somewhere, he's such a soppy thing."
"He is isn't he?" Jane beamed and Kay watched her face light up. "I really must go, not keep you. I'll take my wanderer with me. Thank you for the coffee."
