Elena was 47 when she decided to adopt not a child, nor a dog, nor even a cat.
What she took in was silence.
She lived alone in a tiny flat, surrounded by plants, dogeared books, and a collection of mugs she couldnt explain. She had spent her life postponing everything: love, travel, children. Something else always seemed more urgent until one day she stopped and realized there was nothing left to rush for.
Nothing at all.
On an ordinary Tuesday she went down to the trash bin and heard it: a meow, soft, insistent, broken. She scanned the area nothing. Then she lifted the lid of a container and saw it: a tiny, filthy cat with a torn tail and eyes rimmed with crust, barely breathing.
Without thinking, she wrapped it in her scarf and took it upstairs. She washed it, dried it, and whispered, I dont know if youll make it, little one but you wont die alone.
She spent the night awake, the kitten curled against her chest, while she held it as if she were clutching something far more precious than a cat. Against all odds, the cat survived. Not only thatit began to walk again, to eat, to purr. And each time Elena returned from work, it raced to the door, even though it had no tail and limped on one leg.
They named him Remo, for the effort it takes to row when everything pushes back.
Months passed, and with Remo came habit, routine, warmth. Elena laughed again, slept with her body relaxed, talked out loud, knowing someone was listening even if there was no reply.
One Sunday afternoon, while Remo lay sleeping on her lap, her friend Julia asked, Do you realize you werent the one who saved him?
Elena looked up. What do you mean?
That cat showed up when you needed him most when you were beginning to fade away. He was your reminder.
Elena lowered her gaze. Remo lay there, belly exposed, wet nose, his little body pressed to hers as if they were one.
And then she understood. She hadnt adopted him; he had chosen her. Not every adoption requires paperwork; some only need a coincidence, a wound, and a heart ready to love whats still broken.
Since that day, whenever anyone asked why she hadnt married, had children, or built a traditional family, Elena answered, We dont all adopt children. Some of us adopt souls.
And sometimes those souls meow.
There are beings that arrive uninvited, yet stay as if they were a promise.
