Millie's cat loved nothing better than sitting on the windowsill and watching the world go by. When I passed Millie's house on my way home from school every day, there would be Fluffy looking out the window. Millie would always put out bird seed in feeders to give Fluffy the opportunity to dream of killing birds all day. Fluffy was a well-loved cat.

    When I knew Millie, she was a widow living on a pension, and Fluffy was her only companion. Mom always said that Fluffy was company for Millie. When Millie finally died, Fluffy was still a fairly young cat, only about five years old. No one wanted to take him in. Everyone had their own pets to take care of. So it was finally decided that Fluffy would have to be turned over to the Humane Society.

    Mom took me along when the day came to take Fluffy to the local animal shelter. She explained the situation to the intake worker who let us go along as she took Fluffy to his new home, a cage in a room full of cats. Fluffy cried pitifully when the door to his cage closed, and he looked at Mom with pleading eyes.

    I looked around at the room full of homeless cats. There were tiers of cages along either wall with an aisle that ran between them. The door to the room had a small window that looked onto the adjacent room. There was no  window to the outside, and I knew that Fluffy would have only her memories of sky and grass and trees until she found a new home or for as long as she lived. 

    I couldn't sleep that night. I felt so much pity for Fluffy who had lost his view to the world. I could only hope that someone would want him and soon. I told myself that when I grew up, I would design animal shelters with windows so that all the homeless cats and dogs and rabbits could have a view of the great outdoors.

    Every week Mom called the shelter to see if Fluffy had found a new home. A month went by. Finally we were informed that Fluffy was to be euthanized. I had trouble concentrating on my school work that day and went about my business with a heavy heart.

    When I came home from school, I was walking up the path to the front porch, and there was Fluffy sitting on the windowsill watching me from the coziness of the living room. I was glad that Mom was an old softie at heart.