Kerensa Cadenas & Cricket
I’ve wanted a cat of my own for a VERY long time. When I lived in Los Angeles, my roommate had two darling cats and they felt like my own, but weren’t my own you know? So when I finally moved into my own place this March (what weird timing) I knew I wanted to get a cat eventually but with the pandemic I wasn’t sure how to go about it. After almost adopting a set of tortie kittens, I chickened out in true “what if they hate me because I didn’t meet them in person” fashion. So Greenpoint Cats, a wonderful nonprofit, put me on their foster list and hit me up with a cat to foster. They brought Cricket to me and she was immediately curious and friendly. I fell for her big expressive eyes, loud meowing, and white streak in the middle of her grey back.
After staying the first night in the bathroom, when I let her into the apartment she just started trotting around like it was her place. I really didn’t go into fostering thinking that the first cat I fostered would be MY cat, but Cricket just immediately was snoozing next to me, watching Melrose Place, and just being a loud silly lady.
I love discovering new (and sometimes annoying) things about her—like her love of lil soups, how she’ll curl up around the plants in the window to nap, and her general boundless energy. Cricket also loves people—it’s been so great seeing my friends fall for her too—especially those who don’t even like cats that much. My beloved upstairs neighbor joked that we might have attachment issues—if I’m outside and she can hear that I’m outside she’ll constantly meow and sometimes when I leave for a bit I can hear her meow from down the block. Since I work from home now, she’s made herself a constant presence on my Zoom meetings and loves to “help” by laying on my to-do lists and playing with my pens. In our downtime, we love to watch TV, Crick doesn’t pay much attention but when she does, it’s apparent she has excellent taste—Janelle Monae music videos and I May Destroy You captured her. At times, she’s SO cute that I can’t handle it which is why I’m probably running out of photo storage space on my phone—I’ve jokingly called her the “Kate Moss of Bushwick.” She’s just incredibly photogenic and knows all her angles immediately—I’m hoping that some of her natural knowledge of her face rubs off on me.
I’ve only had her since June, but she’s already been such a wonderful presence in my life. I knew getting a cat would be great for my mental health, but I don’t think I realized just how great it would be. Having a companion, someone to meow at, someone to make up too many nicknames for (Crick, Tiny Tooth, Lil Soup, etc.) has been such a great way to not focus on my own bullshit and is a great occasional break from thinking about the ever crumbling world. Crick brings me so much joy everyday even when she does annoying stuff, like try to jump on the kitchen counter or meow at the closet in the middle of the night. And while she might not look like it because she’s a petite little lady, she’s a huntress, and kills every bug that comes in the pathway of our home. She might eat them, which is gross, but I appreciate her commitment to keeping everything bug free. Cricket is just the best and once I get my shit together—I’ll finally write that teen cat detective children’s book series that she’s inspired.
Kerensa Cadenas is the Culture Editor at The Cut and has previously been at Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair and Complex. She’s been spending her pandemic watching Melrose Place, pacing around her apartment, and listening to Taylor Swift’s folklore wayyy too many times.