a black void with yellow eyes

By Jason K

In the summer of August 2015, I really wanted a pet in the family, as we’ve never owned any type of pets before besides two birds. I wanted an actual pet that roams around our house freely and that we can pet.

I managed to convince my dad to bring me and my sister to the local adoption center for animals and I remember walking past all the dogs and cats my eyes could see. There was this one cat that attracted my attention: it was an orange tabby looking cat but sadly, the worker told us that the cat is “sick” and wasn’t able to be adopted by anyone.

We then walked into a room and the worker brought out a cat that kept on meowing and crying for its sibling. The worker told us that the cat needed to be adopted with its sibling but we didn’t want to commit to having two cats, as that would have been a lot for us to take care of.

Then finally, the worker brought out a small black cat that was very quiet and would immediately walk to my sister to rub against my sister’s legs. We played with the cat for a little while and all thought to ourselves that this black cat would be it.

We decided to adopt him then and there at the shelter and named him Dale. On the car ride home, Dale was meowing a lot, but that was expected because he’s just in a box that the shelter would give for the adoption of a pet. We arrived home and freed Dale out of the cardboard box and he was frantically looking around like it was a whole new world for him. My mom was a little nervous about having a cat, as this was our first time ever owning an actual pet.

Fast forwarding a few days later, Dale was getting more comfortable and used to our house and he would even jump onto our dinner table even though he wasn’t allowed to, but cats are cats. I spent most of my days just playing with him and trying to build a bond with him as he was already a pretty timid cat. We as a family had to adjust to being more high maintenance since we have a cat now and we would need to take pretty good care of him and to make sure he’s healthy.

Going up to my highschool years, my connection with Dale is strong and he would always greet me every time I would come home from anywhere. Anytime I would have a bad day, he would be by my side and demand for pets as if he’s trying to get my mind off the negativities I’m feeling.

I was stressing a lot during virtual learning and trying to keep my grades up and Dale would always be at my side on my bed during those Zoom meeting days. He went from being a shy and timid cat to getting used to anyone in our house as long as they come off pretty nice.

At times, he can get too comfortable and be petty with things like trying to steal and sit on my own chair and would sometimes even bite me if I take forever to get off my chair. My chair, by this point, is a part of my cat. Regardless of how annoying that can get, I still love my cat at the end of the day.

Dale is still a very playful cat at the age of 7, and he’s still doing great and strong with me. Our bond is strong and there wouldn't be any days where I would not see him. He loves bothering me for treats and of course, to sit on my chair. I’m glad I adopted a black cat as most black cats rarely get adopted from the shelter.

I’m also glad movies like Black Panther from 2018 encouraged people into adopting black cats, as the main superhero was the Black Panther. Adoption of black cats went up due to that movie and it’s said that people would name their cats after the movie characters’ names.

For the Warrior Times, this is Jason Kim.