This is Sparkle, the Garden Kitty. She’s the wildest of the Garden Kitties and the least trusting of humans, or other cats. She and her brother Huck were born nearby and their mom brought them to our house when they were tiny babies. Their mom raised them and taught them all the things a feral mom teaches her babies, and then she moved on to other things (not before Robin and Upstairs Human got her spayed!).

Sometimes, Sparkle will let one of the humans touch her, but then she goes through long periods when no one gets to be closer to her than about four feet. Recently, she’s spent days away from our house, but the past week or so, she seems to have decided to spend more time in our garden.

So, today when Robin came home from work, she sat on the sidewalk outside with Mystery, and Sparkle came running from somewhere too. She came close enough to have her tail petted, and then her back, even. Sparkle rubbed on Robin’s knee, and then curled up right next to her thigh. She stayed there only briefly before she looked startled and moved about two feet away.

Robin treasures those few seconds when Sparkle let herself trust. She hopes some day to be able to meditate with Sparkle, like she meditates with me. Next time we have the windows open, I’m going to have to tell Sparkle that it’s really not that bad to get in close with these humans. Of course, it did take me three years to let down my guard a little bit, and I was living INSIDE.