Photography by Jessica Turner

Chelsea Wells and Bryan Lindey’s kitten came flinging into their lives this past March.

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They were just leaving the Wynnewood Kroger, and on noticing the feral cat colonies there, brought up the idea of adopting a cat. 

At that moment, “I thought I saw a squirrel get clipped by a truck and fly into the air,” Chelsea says.

It landed at the curb of the median on Zang Boulevard and clung to the side.

“First of all, I pulled over, and people were honking at us,” Chelsea says.

The kitten was stunned and easy to grab by the scruff. It was mouth breathing and had a little bit of blood in its mouth.

Chelsea and Bryan drove home to the Wolf Creek area and put away their perishable groceries before running the wee thing up to the vet.

“Miraculously, absolutely nothing was wrong with her,” Bryan says. “It was an incredibly close shave.”

They think the wake of the wheel just blew her back and that she was stunned when she hit the curb, maybe biting her tongue.

It turns out the introduction was appropriately sensational.

Now this kitty, Pollywog, is a total hellraiser.

She’ll play hockey with an empty tin can on the tile floor at 5 a.m. and zoom from room to room. She gets into cabinets, fiddles with reachable artwork and scrunches up the bathroom rug.

“She never stops playing,” Bryan says.

Before becoming a teacher, Chelsea worked at a nonprofit cat shelter in Chicago for seven years. She says she felt bad adopting a “normal” feline because she’s called to take in special-needs cats. But soon after Pollywog, they adopted Meelo, a shy cat the house-sitter will never see, for example, and who hid for two days after the family returned from a trip this summer.

Pollywog and Meelo are now a bonded pair who cuddle and sleep together.

Chelsea and Bryan are both teachers at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center. She developed a three-year creative writing program that she teaches along with freshman English. He teaches senior English.

Their blended family also has four kids and two dogs, Dover and Snow Pea.

Read more about our Oak Cliff pets here