They sat down as a family that night, with the babysitter joining them. But the cat, rarely antagonistic to guests, hissed at her. He raised his furry back, and his eyes burned with malice.
Red with embarrassment, she called the cat, hoping the babysitter wasn’t offended by the display. She had no clue that the cat was trying to relay an important message about the babysitter.
Katy and Will Hawthorne were a young couple living in St. Louise, Missouri. Recently married and living their best lives, the couple was pregnant with their first child.
Katy and Will had dated since they were in college. By the time they tied the knot, they knew they couldn’t live without each other. But all that changed when they learned they were pregnant.
The prospect of another life joining their little family brought Katy and Will joy that they’d never experienced before. Life as they knew it was quickly changing.
If the couple had thought they couldn’t live without each other before, now they knew they couldn’t exist without the new soul that was coming their way.
While Katy was three months pregnant, something unexpected happened. One of their neighbors moving to New York had a parting gift for them.
Unknown to Katy and Will, their neighbor’s cat gave birth to a kindle of kittens. The neighbor was gifting them one of these little furballs of happiness. The young couple had no idea how much the kitty would change their lives.
Katy’s three trimesters came to a swift end, and before the family knew it, they were welcoming baby Craig into their lives.
Alongside Katy and Will was Mjolnir Jonathan, the neighbor’s gift who was no longer a little kitty but a large and powerful Maine Coon cat. But though the Hawthornes were elated, having Craig would bring its own set of challenges.
Adding a new baby to any family usually comes with several challenges. These issues are typically augmented when both parents are career people
Such was the case with the Hawthornes. Both Katy and Will were working. Although their companies offered a gracious eleven months of leave, they dreaded what would happen when the time came for them to return to work.
Throughout the eleven months, the couple took care of little Craig. They also noticed Mjolnir’s care and affection toward the baby. The cat rarely went outside after Craig was born.
He would stay in the same room with him, napping or playing with Craig whenever he could. Mjolnir and Craig’s relationship was something out of a fantasy book. It would also change the family’s life forever.
The dreaded end of the couple’s leave loomed over their heads. Knowing they’d need to find a nanny for Craig, Katy and Will started searching.
The couple did several interviews, finally landing on Mindy, a college student who radiated positivity in everything she did. Mindy got to work immediately, but the couple started noticing little things that didn’t add up as the days went by.
The first indicator that something was afoot was Mjolnir’s reaction to Mindy after the first week she’d started looking after Craig. The babysitter shrugged it off, saying her clothes had her dog’s scent.
Although Mjolnir’s behavior toward Mindy didn’t improve through the next week, the Hawthornes brushed it off as the cat being cranky. But when Craig started acting differently, too, Katy knew something was terribly wrong.
One night, Katy and Will got into a slight disagreement. Although Katy couldn’t remember what the argument was about, she vividly recalled her son flinching at their raised voices.
Looking at the effect her and Will’s raised voices had on Craig set alarms blaring within Katy. She feared she knew why Mjolnir and Craig were acting as they did since Mindy started taking care of them.
Katy told Will everything that was happening in her mind. Her gut constricted as she relayed her fears. Her lungs ran empty. Was Mindy mistreating Craig or Mjolnir?
Will listened carefully. He leaned into the chair he was sitting on, sharing a plan that was sure to solve the mystery behind Mjolnir and Craig’s change in behavior.
Will’s plan sounded absurd at first. But the more Katy thought about it, the more it made sense. She gave her husband the green light, and Will hurried out of the room, returning with a small microphone which he hid in Mjolnir’s collar.
The next day, the couple left the house like they did every morning. But they didn’t go to work. Waiting in a nearby parking lot, they finally uncovered what was happening in their home.
Mindy’s voice came through Will’s phone, which he’d connected to Mjolnir’s microphone. The couple heard the babysitter yell at Craig for not finishing his bottle.
She cursed him out when he started crying, calling him names, and threatening him. She turned her attention to Mjolnir, but the Hawthornes were racing back to the house by then.
As Katy and Will reached their house, Katy held Will back. Although she wanted to stop what was happening in her home, she knew they didn’t have solid proof to validate their case when they called the police.
Katy and Will got back to the house and worked from home that day, insisting Mindy stay over since they’d be committed to work. They watched how she treated Craig and Mjolnir, seeing how good a pretender she was.
That same night Katy and Will installed cameras in their home and left early the next day. As expected, Mindy mistreated Craig, but this time on camera. The family called the police immediately, and Mindy was arrested, with the police not allowing her to babysit again.
The Hawthornes resolved to work from home. Though they were glad they’d installed that microphone and cameras all over the house, they knew they couldn’t have done it without Mjolnir, their awesome cat.
