One evening, my daughter cried out, “Mom! Marsa has a puppy!” Our cat had carried a tiny pup home — then another, and another — until five lay curled in a basket, snuggled against her as if they were her own.
The next day, a policeman arrived with our neighbor, who revealed the truth: the puppies’ mother had died that morning. I braced for her to take them back.
But after seeing Marsa gently purring and guarding the orphans, she smiled through tears and said, “Let them stay. She’s their mother now.”
