A waitress in a Salem restaurant approached me about some feral kittens she had in a box on her front porch. Would I want one? I was having lunch with Maria at the time – we were just becoming friends – and I said I was looking for a barn cat to keep Mother, my first barn cat, company. That night we went to her home out in the country and met Minnie, who was a feral kitten and so shy she wouldn’t show herself for months. We had to leave food in the barn for her and leave. Gradually, she got curious about us, and is everybody’s pal. For those first few months, she lived in the barn near the chicken roost and when I looked out the window, I would see her sitting out in the sun with the chickens, dozing or just hanging out.

The chickens stay away from cats and dogs, but not Minnie. They always find her and join her in her nap and sun worshiping sessions. I suspect Minnie thinks she is a chicken, and I am always amazed and fascinated by the relationships animals form. Somehow, the chickens socialized her.