Scrounging around in the family computer, I found an old story I had written a little while ago.
Cat's Game
Felix was hungry. The hunger gnawed at his insides, sure to slowly chip away at his calm demeanor. He needed food. The feline trotted over to the old house with the peeling pink paint and scratched at the powder blue door with his white tabby paws, letting out pitiful little meows. The door opened, revealing an elderly woman with smile crinkles all over her face, an apron that said, ‘Kiss the Cook!’, and a pair of oversized boots with a mess of hair the color of dough to top it all off.
‘Hello Felix!’ She said, in the most obnoxious voice she could muster, her warm, floury breath washing over him. If Felix could roll his eyes, they would’ve rolled out of his sockets long ago.
His owner picked him up and carried into the kitchen, in all of its pink glory. She opened the light blue door to the pantry, and a counterfeit expression of alarm covered her face. ‘Oh dear!’ She said, bending down. ‘It would seem we’re out of cat food!’
But Felix was already walking haughtily, tail in the air, away. He walked into the yard, seeking solitude, and instead found the neighborhood stray, a ginger feline with brown stripes, trotting across the lawn. He was ingeniously named Ginger.
‘Hey Ginger!’ Meowed Felix. His friend’s ears perked up, and he looked towards Felix. ‘Hi Felix!’ Ginger purred, in his rough yet gentle baritone. ‘Where are you off to in such a hurry?’ Felix meowed, climbing down off his perch on the windowsill.
‘I saw a budgie get hit by a car. I guess it was flying too low.’
‘Scavenging? You’re eating it straight off the road, I suppose.’
‘A feast is a feast.’
Ginger did his best impression of a shrug, which didn’t go so well, and ended up with him falling on his backside. ‘Well,’ Said Felix, ‘I guess I’ll just go now.’ He prowled over to the wood pile as nonchalantly as he could, with Ginger keeping a close eye on him.
He broke into a mad dash and jumped from the wood pile to roof. The race was on. Ginger’s eyes narrowed as he ran along the sidewalk. Felix backed up, and took a running leap, soaring over the fence separating his and the neighbors properties. They didn’t have a cat. Idiotic humans.
He landed on the opposite roof, and ran to a hole in the hedge surrounding the house. He leapt to it and slid down the emerald tunnel he had pawed away earlier. He broke out of the hedge onto the sidewalk, looking back just long enough to see Ginger’s surprised expression as the dusty cat turned the corner.
He did the best snicker a cat could manage, and turned his head to his prize, skidding to a stop in front of the quivering yellow heap. Ginger watched in envy as Felix carefully sniffed the bird.
A door snapped open. ‘Tweety!’ Shouted the small boy that ran out. He ran onto the road and scooped the bird up. His look of pride turned to fear as a car rounded the corner, clinking noisily in the wind. The brakes slammed down as the driver noticed the boy, but it was too late.
The car swerved, wheels squealing on the pavement.
Felix stared, frozen with fear.
The boy screamed and tried to run.
Ginger stood watching them, too scared to move.
The wail of an ambulance siren filled the night, flashing red on the walls of the houses, splashing crimson onto the boy, his frail hand gripping the bird tightly. He was carried into the ambulance, and the screaming of the siren was joined by the broken weeping of a woman. Nobody noticed the fragile body of Felix, lying on the road.
A single tear dropped on the gravestone, reflecting in it the stars above. It was soon joined by more, like the fragile rain after a drought. “Felix, Cat, and Beloved Pet” The gravestone proclaimed, its stony face offering no solace. The owner collapsed to her knees, weeping. Ginger sat solemnly by her side.
After a few minutes, she gained the strength to stand. She looked up into the smooth velvety black sky. ‘I know you’re up there Felix.’ She said to the sky. The stars twinkled in response. Ginger raised his head and let out a long, heartfelt cry, echoes bouncing off the unforgiving graves.
‘I know how you feel.’ Said the woman. ‘Let’s go home.’ And with that, she picked him up and walked home, as the stars faded and the sun rose. “It’s good to have a home.” Thought Ginger, as they walked away from the grave.
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Mmmmmm. Gold teeth.
