Puss looked around, puzzled. What’s with these human servants of mine? They are bustling around, and around and around, constantly keeping busy and paying no attention to me, except to accuse me of getting under foot. The nerve! And to think they would cast me into that miserable wintery weather when I started complaining!

                Meow! Well I happen to be pretty good at sneaking right back in when they aren’t looking. Ah, ha! I’m smarter than they think! They are planning to go on a trip: to somewhere where it’s warm. Look at that, no extra bulky snow wear is going on this vacation! They’re going where it’s warm. While, I will just abide my time….

                “Where’s Pussy? Has anyone seen Puss?”
                “Tom, you will just have to stop looking, you’ve been at it for fifteen minutes already. The cat is perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”

                Mom had opened the door of the van while talking and Puss smiled smugly to himself. Chances were good they wouldn’t find him hiding under the back seat for a good long while. 

                Ah, it sure felt good after the heater started going and the van started rolling. This was the perfect place to have a nice long nap…

                The vehicle stopped once in a while and everyone piled out, but not Puss, he knew better. It was still much too cold, but then it was different. This time everyone was excitedly dragging their suitcases out and the kids left the sliding door wide open. Time to investigate.

                Puss scowled as he stalked around. What a hot, sulky place. Why did they come here anyway?

                “There’s Puss,” Susie screamed, (what a noisy child) “She must have come along with us!”

                Puss tolerated all the exclaiming and petting for a while, but they decided to go off and do some exploring on his own.

                After a few days he decided this warmer clime wasn’t so bad after all and when the family all searched for him, he hid under a banana leaf and pretended not to hear.

                Belatedly he thought: who’s going to give me a bowl of nice cool milk, or open can of sardines just for me? And where will I go if it rains? But the van kept getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

                Ever thought you knew better than God so took your own way?