Last Day of Summer Vacation

I walk in from the balcony and see Louis stretched out in the late afternoon sun, luxuriating with his paws neatly crossed in front. He looks up at me with avid interest, so I flop down beside him and he performs his loving ritual of walking circles around my body, aiming for my outstretched hands and banging the side of his head against my knuckles, while emitting tiny squeaks from his big-cat body.

I can hear the quiet tinkling of the wind chimes outside my window, a sweet daily reminder that S loves me. The day his brown eyes sparkled as I unwrapped them, I don't think he realized the full effect those wind chimes would have on me.

Louis plunks down with a fast thud right beside my head and purrs in my ear. I remember when S and I picked up Louis and Dinah when they were kittens and brought them home, over 3 years ago.

The gentle wind chimes, the affectionate cat, the warm streaming sun. It's my quiet afternoon before the first day of school, when my crazy life will resume its tumbling pace.