Boy and kitten regarded each other upon first meeting. The kitten wasn't much to look at: just a little, scrawny ball of fluffy black fur and penetrating green eyes, pitifully skinny.

The boy wasn't much to look at either, by most people's standards: no more than eight years old at the most, with longish, dirty greasy blonde hair that fell in tangled bangs across his blue eyes, wearing tattered, hand-me-down clothes that looked like they should be worn by a homeless person.

Ugly steel-and-leather braces encased his stick-thin legs; big, clunky orthopedic shoes covered his feet. He sat dejectedly in a beat-up old wheelchair; yet when the boy saw the kitten, he sat up in a state of interest.

The little boy was afraid to make any sudden moves, for fear of causing the kitten to start, take off running to God-knows-where. Yet he wanted to touch the kitten, run his dirty fingers through the kitten's silky pure-black fur, hopefully get it to start purring.

To the boy, there was nothing more soothing than the comforting rumble of a cat's purr enamating from somewhere deep in the cat's vibrating throat. It reminded him of his first cat, "Trixie", who died only a few months back. The cat had been hit by a car; nothing could be done to save its life.

At the memory, tears stung the boy's eyes; he still missed "Trixie" awful bad. Any cat he saw reminded him of "Trixie", especially if they were all black, like this kitten was.

Tentatively, cautionsly, quietly, the kitten slowly inched its way to the boy's outstretched hand. When he reached the edge of the boy's wheelchair, he stared up at the boy with wide, knowing eyes. He sensed that the little boy human was sad about something; he wanted nothing more than to take away whatever pain the little boy was going through.

He reached up, stretched a silken paw towards the boy. The little boy smiled shyly as he reached down, touched the kitten's paw. The kitten stood up on its hind legs, stretched its lithe, lean body as far as it could possibly go, and sniffed the child's dirty, grime-covered fingers. A combination of smells tickled the kitten's nose, a combination of dirt, street grime, food, body odor, even a hint of smoke. The smells caused the little kitten to sneeze.

At the sound of the kitten's unexpected sneeze, the boy laughed. The kitten then leapt up into the child's lap, snuggled between his knees, and immediately dissolved into purrs. The boy smiled as wide as the moon; he knew that he'd found a new friend.

Seeing it was so close to Christmas, he decided on naming the kitten "Jingle Bells", especially since the kitten wore a red collar with a bright gold jingle bell that tinkled merrily whenever he moved.  Yeah, it ws the perfect name for this friendly little kitten who had found a new home in the boy's lap.

~End of part one.