Cats abhor rain, and it was pouring.

But the gray and white boy was desperate.

With beseeching eyes he stood next to the car in the rain and looked up at the couple inside, two humans sitting snug and dry while he shivered.

He had a bushy tail and a mane like a lion’s.

They didn’t need another cat, they had agreed. They’d be firm.

The cat kept staring at them.

That evening, Seamus was lying on a cushion in front of their wood stove.