Inklings ~ April 2026

Welcome April Inklings! 🌱

1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt.

2. Link-back to Heidi's blog with a link to you Inklings prompt.

April's Prompt

A scene with kittens in book or film

Happy Birthday, Kirsten!

by Janet Beeler Shaw

Chapter 2. "New Babies"

  Kirsten jumped up and followed Lisbeth. The sun was just rising, as pink as a primrose. The scent of lilacs and freshly turned earth was in the air. In the barn lot, Anna and Peter crouched beside a pile of straw near a huge wooden beam for the new barn. There was Missy, curled around her five baby kittens.

 Missy licked and licked the kittens, which crawled blindly against her belly to look for milk. Two of the kittens were black and white, two were gray and white, and the smallest one was gray, just like Missy. The gray kitten was so small it couldn't squeeze in to find a place to nurse. Instead, it bumped up against the beam, then against Missy's hid leg.

 "That one's so little it will never live," Peter said. He'd heard Uncle Olav say that about one of the piglets.

 "Be quiet, Peter," Kirsten said. "You don't know everything." She tried to guide the tiny gray kitten to its mother. But the kitten couldn't find its way.

 "I think it has a chance," Lisbeth said. "Though sometimes those very little ones aren't strong enough to make it."

  Kirsten touched the gray kitten's stomach with the tip of her finger. The kitten's heart beat like the flutter of a butterfly wing. Its tiny mouth closed around her fingertip. Kirsten moved the kitten closer to Missy. "Oh, yes, thar kitten will make it," Kirsten whispered, "You'll see."

 "You like that one the best, don't you?" Peter said.

  Kirsten nodded.

  "Well, I like that black and white one," Peter said. He liked the puppies that were the toughest and the calves that were the biggest, too.

  "I've got to finish milking with Aunt Inger," Kirsten said. "Peter, you make sure that the gray kitten doesn't get lost in the grass, will you?"

  Peter stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets the way their big brother Lars did. "Missy will take care of her kittens. She doesn't need help."

  But Kirsten wasn't sure. That gray kitten was so very, very small. She leaned down and pet it one more time and whispered, "Be careful. Don't wander away or a hawk might get you. Drink lots of milk. I'll come back and see you later." She wanted to stay to guard it, but instead she ran back to the barn to help Aunt Inger.