No means No, unless you talking about a kitten

This is the story on how we got our first pet.

  In my house right now we have the dog, a cat, cockatoo and a scarlet macaw.  Some may say that is a lot, but at one time we also had on top of these four family members, we had two budgies, a rabbit, a cockatiel and an albino catfish named “Al”.  Basically when we went to the “all about pets show” in Mississauga, we got our money’s worth.

This menagerie and pet addiction started with a kitten we didn’t want.  Here is what happened…

  My father in law one day said “Betty’s son’s cat is having kittens, Do you want one?”
We said “No thank you since we have 4 kids and do not have time to look after a pet. But thank you for thinking of us.”

 Maybe we were not clear or loud enough for him to hear us say “No!” or maybe because he is Sicilian and does not know the meaning of “no”.

 Every other day all we heard was “want a kitten? “ No!” 
                                                            “Want a kitten? “No!”

This went on and on and until finally a few weeks passed and not one word about kittens. In fact we totally forgot that a kitten was offered to us until we came home one Sunday evening after being out all day.
 There was a message on the answering machine, not “ sorry I missed you, I will call again” but a very direct and blunt message from my father in law that said “ I have your dam cat here and it is ripping my curtains apart, come and get it”.

Ok at this point two things came immediately to my mind, the first being, what if this guy was a car salesman?
“Hey buddy, want to buy a car?” “No!”
A week later he phones you and says “Hey buddy want to buy a car?” You say “No!”
Another week later he phones you and says “Hey buddy want to buy a car?” You say “No!”
Finally a month later when you think it is safe to answer the phone and he says “hey, I’ve got your car here, come and pick it up or I’ll charge you storage fees.”

But more serious was the second thought was,  that if this “kitten” was tearing up his curtains, did I really want this spawn of Satan in my home? If he is this destructive as a kitten what kind of terror can I expect from a full grown cat?

So, my wife phones him and said “we told you many times we did not want a kitten.”  To this my father in law says “I don’t remember what you said.”

 So now we are proud owners of a new kitten, who by the way was soft and gentle and never touched his curtains.