Excerpt from Singing Songs (Continued)

but once she was in, she'd stay there for hours. A curled up shaking ball of fur. We figured she was shaking cause she was cold and missed her mama. So Katie gave Abby Road her blanket The one she'd had since she was a baby. And we made Abby Road a little nest. And after a couple of days she stopped shaking.

At first we fed her with a baby bottle. We cut a big hole in the nipple so she could get milk out more easily. Powdered milk, but we mixed it a lot stronger than we made ours. Thicker, so she'd get lots of nutrients. And she liked it. She'd follow me around the kitchen while I fixed it. Skidding on her little spindly legs. Butting me with her head to make me hurry up.

When I fed her, I had to hold on to the bottle with both hands, cause she'd pull and tug on it. Sucking so vigorously that if I accidentally let go she'd probably swallow the thing whole. Slurping on the bottle, big sloppy sucks, milk escaping her

greedy mouth, running in little trickles down her neck. And all the while, she'd gaze up at me with her big grateful eyes.

When she got old enough to eat grass, we started using a bowl for milk instead. Milk three times a day. And then gradually we weaned her down to one, cause milk's pretty expensive. But sometimes when Daddy wasn't looking, we'd sneak her more.

She liked her milk, but best of all she liked Life Savers. She wasn't picky, any flavor would do, but she was specially partial to wintergreen. She would do anything for a wintergreen. Anything. Even walk on her hind legs. And if you tried to sneak one when she was anywhere near, she'd smell it on your breath and nuzzle and butt you with her head until you gave her one. And she wouldn't take no for an answer, so if you had only one, you'd have to eat it real far away and then rinse your mouth out. Either that, or bite it in half and share it.

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