Care and feeding

Something smelled wrong.

I sniffed the gentle zephyr as it floated past my inquisitive nostrils. Without hesitation I launched myself towards the tree for a better perspective.

As I creeped out on the limb I discovered that my first impression was correct. I spotted the two men approaching from the road. There was something queer about them. They oozed of malice.

Throwing caution to the wind I hurtled myself to the ground, bounded to the dirt and passed the breeze that began my trepidation as I made my way up to the house. The men either did not spot me or found me of no interest. I quickly found the open window and found myself in the bedroom of my pets. I was worried for them.

In one bound I jumped upon Joe’s back and raked my nails into his flesh.

“What the ..!” Joe lurched so hard he threw me to the floor. “Ty! What’s the matter with you?” I jumped back up to the windowsill perfectly aligning my silhouette with the view of the figures proceeding up the dirt road to the house. As I swiveled my gaze toward the window I saw the two dive for cover in the tall grass. The sound of Joe's voice had alerted them. I was hoping Joe had caught a glimpse or maybe the scent of the two men.

With growing disappointment I recalled that humans are nearly blind and extremely olfactory deprived. There wasn’t a snowball's chance he noticed the intruders.

“What’s gotten into you? I’ve never seen you act so crazy; did you suddenly contract rabies or mad cow?”
I didn’t care much for Joe’s tone of voice or his posture so I spit my worst hiss at him and went through the open doorway, scampered down the hall into the kitchen.
I could hear him crawling back to bed, so I knocked a coffee mug off the counter onto the floor. I heard him get out of bed again grumbling in a not too friendly manner.

“I get my hands on you cat, I’m gonna give you a flying lesson”, he muttered as he padded down the hallway.  As he reached the kitchen, the front door suddenly flew open and the two malicious creatures were standing there pointing a rifle into the house. I froze. If they chose to look I was plainly in their line of sight. Joe on the other hand, was around the corner from them assessing the damage I had just created. Joe receded into the nook in the rear of the kitchen.

The two men promptly came in, one pointing his gun fore, one aft. They went down the hallway to the bedroom where Jennie still lay asleep. I could smell their evil intentions.

“Check for goodies, while I check out the sleeping beauty here.” The thicker one said as he gazed into the bedroom. He went into the bedroom as the skinny one walked right back towards me lowering his rifle. He looked around the whole room, over, under, around and right through me as if I wasn’t there.

I am not used to being ignored, I really don’t care for it much.  Just as I was about to pounce on him he slipped on a shard and fell to the floor. From the bedroom came; “what happened?”

“Nuthin..I just slipped.”

The sound of the intruder’s strange voice woke Jennie. The big man enjoyed hearing her scream for a moment. When he tired of it he pointed the gun at her and said simply; “shut up”.

As soon as the skinny one had finished speaking, Joe hooked his arm around his scrawny neck and squeezed as hard as he could. When Jennie started screaming, Joe delivered a knockout punch to the intruder and watched him fall to the floor. Jennie’s screams were so loud that the kitchen scuffle could not be heard in the bedroom.

I was not enjoying the fracas unfolding far too close to my precious, perfectly formed physique so I raced back up the hall to the bedroom. It had become suddenly quiet there, my natural curiosity was consuming me. I peeked around the doorway. The big man was slowly moving towards the bed. “It’s party time milady, why don’t you sit up so’s I can get a good look-see here.” He still had the gun trained on her as she slunk back against the headboard.

Jennie was terrified. She stared at the fat man, eyes as wide as the saucers I drank my milk from. As she was clutching at the headboard she suddenly went limp. Seemed like a strange time for a catnap, Ty thought, but I don't pretend to understand humans, they are very strange creatures.

The big man knelt down, brushed her hair from her face and kissed her limp face on the cheek. “This is gonna be fun”, he said softly. He straightened up and was beginning to take off his shirt when the bullet tore through his brain. Joe lowered the gun and walked back to the kitchen.
My ears were ringing so loud they hurt. I scrabbled on the wood floor, it took a few seconds to get traction, once I got it I couldn't control it; I was running so fast I ran right into the kitchen cabinet. So much for dignity.
Once I composed myself I noticed that the permeation of evil had abruptly disappearred.

As Joe sat by the phone, tapping the little object three times I decided it was time to turn on the charm, after all, I was extremely hungry. I turned my yellow eyes on him and purred as loud as I could.


948 words