A Different Cat
I woke up. Everything was blurry. I fell back asleep. I woke up again. I felt better so I stood up and stretched. After stretching, I started my morning wash. I had to make sure I looked perfect. When I was done with that I went outside. I could feel a purr coming, stupid purrs, when one comes, you can’t avoid it. I can’t avoid it so I usually just accept it, but today I didn’t. I didn’t feel right, whenever I try to avoid a purr, I… anyway, started to choke. After a bit of hacking and a lot of aging, I was done. The mess in front of me wasn’t pretty, but it was there. I walked around it then lifted my head into the air and closed my eyes. I listened to the low buzzing of bees and felt the breeze ruffling my fur. Another purr came. This time, though, I didn’t avoid it. I decided that my owners wouldn’t really appreciate a bunch of cat vomit all over their garden. The purr made me feel better. I sat there for a whole, and the whole time I sat there, the sinking feeling in my stomach disappeared. I felt good, until I got bored. I decided to continue with my daily routine. I stood up, opening my eyes and started to walk across the garden in the direction of the fence. The sinking feeling returned. I jumped up onto the fence, balanced there for a second, then gracefully leaped back down. I landed lightly on the other side of the fence. I was in a small garden, next to the path. On my right were small flower bushes, including bluebells and snowdrop. On my left was the frangipani tree. I love that tree. I jumped onto the path and walked across it. It isn’t the best path ever; the stones are uneven and are rough. On the bright side, however, they path becomes as hot as the sun when it’s a sunny day. When I had crossed the path I came to the road. I looked left, nothing, then right, nothing, then crossed. I was glad there were so few cars that day. I continued to the next garden, the one across the road. I swear it’s the neatest garden I have ever seen. It’s the kind of garden where there is nowhere to poop, which sucks when I need to go. The next garden is better though, there’s a large bush which provides excellent cover, for a toilet stop and when it rains. Then there’s the garden with the stupid, yapping, squirrel sized dog. Whenever I pass there it starts barking at me, annoying thing. Today, it wasn’t there, which was strange. I turned and started to head next door, this is as far as I usually go. After the garden with the dog I head home in a sort of an arc. The garden next door is nice enough, I guess, except it has rose bushes. Rose bushes have thorns, the thorns on these particular rose bushes are tiny daggers, and really hurt is you get pricked by one. I usually don’t go into that garden, just like I don’t go into the garden with the yapping dog. I passed that garden then went on the path to the park. The park has great climbing trees. I looked around. Then I stopped. There was the dog, the yappy one. It was with its owner, they were out on “walkies” except it had no leash on. I think it was to lake, though, because I heard a bunch of yapping then saw the dog race towards ne like a canon ball out of a canon. My instincts took over. I spun around and raced back the way I came. I felt terrible, running always made me feel like that. The only problem was that I couldn’t stop to vomit. I ran as fast as I could towards the road. I could hear the yapping getting louder. I felt like I was gonna collapse, but I kept on running. Then the road appeared in front of me. I had no time to stop and check for cars. I just ran straight across. Then I heard a car. It was there, zooming towards me. I stopped, but then it was gone. It had passed over me. I was so relieved, I’ve heard of many cats that die on the road, I didn’t want to die. Then I remembered the dog. I saw it, it was on the road I jumped up and ran. I could feel it’s breath on my tail. I leaped up, onto my fence and balanced on it. I turned and looked down at the dog. It was scrabbling at the fence. I suddenly felt light hearted. I taunted the dog and laughed at it. When it FINALLY went away I half jumped, half slid down the fence and went into my house. I hoped that day wasn’t one of those days that my owners would take me to the vet. They often do, and I don’t usually mind. But that day I just wanted to sleep. I was so exhausted. I went into the living room, where my owners were. I curled up on one of their laps and drifted off, into a well earned and troubled sleep.