That following day, when Frost entered her daughter’s bedroom to wake her for school, Marley was already awake and sitting on the floor in front of an opened cupboard. In it sat a small black kitten.
“It had just been staring at me,” recalls Marley “I picked him up and hugged him—he felt like Simon.”
The family welcomed the new addition warmly, naming him Blackie (after Simons namesake). The uncanny resemblance between cat and departed friend left Nikki Frost with mixed emotions: “sometimes I feel guilty having replaced Simon with another pet” she says “but then again I know that if my son or husband died tomorrow morning while they were out working, I would want something to live for & reminder of them too.
A kindhearted neighbor had been feeding them until they could be rescued, and when the Frost family took her in, it was love at first sight.
“She came to us being incredibly malnourished and covered in fleas, but she fit right into our family nonetheless. We soon discovered that Ella was an incredible hunter; she brought us so many presents of dead mice and birds. She loves spending lazy afternoons perched atop a warm sunbeam in the living room.”
5 years later, the family is still going strong with their furry additions.
