cat

I am a cat.  I live in a nice, warm house with good people who always make sure I have enough to eat and drink.  They groom me and play with me too.  All the people in the house belong to each other, there aren't any strangers.  There is one who takes a special interest in me.  She is a young woman.  I think she is pretty by their standards; in the last few years she's often entered the house with the smell of strange male on her and she's always showing her teeth, which people seem to do when they want to be friendly and nice.

Actually, lately her her teeth have been out even more than before and there's one particular smell she always brings home with her.  Maybe the source will come and not be a stranger anymore.

Today she's very excited, very nervous.  She's running all over the house.  She picks me up and puts me down again.  I wish she'd sit down in front of the light box like she used to so I could relax on her lap.  The other people are nervous too, but everybody seems happy except the little girl.  She doesn't seem happy at all.  In fact, I think she's very angry about something.  But everybody else is running around and papers and clothes are flying everywhere.  It's starting to make me a little nervous too.

Now the girl is following the young woman everywhere, but she's not drawing her attention.  Why doesn't she speak?  Or grab the woman's shirt?  That's how I get her attention.  I also roll around on the floor in front of her, which makes her produce all kinds of interesting noises, but it's been years since I've seen any of the people do that.  Wait, now she is putting her hand on the woman's arm.  Now they're going into her sleeping room.  They're staying in there for quite a while; I think I'll lie down here in the hall and wait for somebody to massage my head.

Wow!  What's that racket?!  I must have fallen asleep.  I do tend to do that.  Everybody's all excited now and running every which way, but it's not the happy excited like before.  Everyone seems upset.  The young woman is sitting on her bed crying.  I run up to her and she grabs me up into her lap, holding me tightly.  She's extremely upset, her hands are trembling and tears are falling into my fur.  The older people are shouting at each other but I don't think they're angry with each other, they're just nervous and I think a little afraid.  The girl is coming back into her sister's room now and she's crying too.  Her face is all red.  On one side it's shaped like a red hand.  "I'm sorry," she whispers, "I'm sorry."  The young woman buries her face in my fur and sobs.  The next day she takes all the things in the house that smell like the stranger and throws them in the big metal cans outside.  I guess he'll always be a stranger now.