She appeared on the doorstep in December, a small black cat with golden eyes complaining about a cold, wet winter. We didn’t open the door. For a week she circled from the glass sliders in the living room to the front door and then around to the back, tracking our movements through the house. She demanded to be let in. As water dripped from her fur, we capitulated. It wasn’t adoption, we maintained. Just a toweling to dry and warm her, then back outside. She responded with pu