I may have accidentally sort of adopted five cats

I may have accidentally 
Sort of 
Adopted five

I kept looking at the texts from my sister, willing them to change. How could she have adopted any cats? We live in a tiny apartment that doesn't even allow pet fish. Words failing me, I simply said:

???

I was expecting some grand and dramatic story about how she came across five abused cats and swooped in to rescue them. Surely, that had to be it. I needed some sort of heroic excuse if she was going to justify five cats.

Well
I was walking along

Okay, so here it comes. And then she saw the saddest cats ever...right?

And I saw an animal shelter

My brain whirred. I thought we had gotten rid of all the kill shelters in our city. Wasn't there some law passed about it? Had one shelter skirted it somehow? Surely it had to be a kill shelter she'd seen.

And there was this sad little kitten looking at me
And Jen
It only had one eye

I did feel a twinge in my ever practical heart and said:
Oh Ava
That is very sad

But before I could tell her while that wasn't enough of a reason she continued.

Right?!
So I went in just to hold the little kitten
Cause he looked like he needed some love and attention
But inside there were so many that needed that

I had some sympathy for my sister's big heart, but animals in need of love was not a new issue. Although it seemed like following our lease was going to be very soon.

Ava
What
Did
You 
Do?

I watched the three dots rise and fall on my screen as Ava was clearly typing and retyping a response.

Well I thought I was just signing something to be a volunteer

I rolled my eyes. Ava was impulsive, yes, but she wasn't stupid.

Don't lie to me

An almost sheepish pause passed before she replied.

Okay filled out paperwork to adopt the one eyed kitten

When she didn't add anything to explain the other four cats she claimed to have adopted, I prompted:
And four others???

Ava seemed to have gone away from her phone because I waited over fifteen minutes for a response.

I saw four others with injuries
This one is Bruiser
He's missing a leg

Ava then had the audacity to send me a photo of a limping, elderly ginger tabby with big green eyes that gazed at the camera in awe. Dammit, Ava.

This is Summer
Her previous owner chopped off her tail
Can you even imagine the cruelty of that???

And then Summer appeared on my phone. A lovely looking calico with a very short, stubby tail. I wanted to ask if Summer even liked people anymore, but Ava continued on.

This is Elphaba
They said they're not sure how she lost her ear
But it was probably another street cat

A jet black cat appeared on my screen. Despite missing most of her left ear, she looked at the camera with an elegant calm. No, I told myself, we cannot have five cats.

Here is Dobby
He's the one eyed kitten I mentioned before

Oh boy, Dobby did tug at my heart strings. He was a raggedy long haired grey cat and his one blue eye was almost comically large.

And then this is Franny
Her fur grows in weird patches
Probably because of something her previous owners did
But the shelter wasn't sure

And there was the clumpily furred Franny who, despite only having patches of fur, was certainly a tuxedo cat. She did look rather sweet. I replied:
Okay
You got me
They're precious

Ava texted back before I could finish.
I know right?!?!?!
We're cat moms now

I sighed. Ava was ever the idealist and I was ever the wet blanket.
Ava
We can't keep them
We can't even have a fish in our apartment

So let's move

Ava was all ready to give up our apartment for these five cats. And while I loved her for that, I knew we couldn't.
Or 
Ava
We could find better homes for them

And until we can?

I guess we're cat moms

(Prompt sent by Katie Durr)