I was very encouraged to see that my short story "Different Tales-The Cat" reached No. 2 in popularity, so I wrote a part 2 to the story. Enjoy it!
The Cat (Part 2)
In the mornings, my sister Mady and I, have our tasks split between us, I’m taking care of the front yard and Mady is taking care of the back yard.
On the front yard, on one side of the house, we have a magnificent magnolia tree that hovers over the two story house. I bought the house (twenty some years ago) enchanted with the magnolia tree, then, in full bloom.
However, going back on my daily chores, I have to rake the magnolia tree leaves, almost on daily basis. Besides raking the leaves, I have to weed out and water the flower beds. It takes about one full hour every morning! I’ll say: “Time well spent!”
When I finished my work and went back in the back yard, Mady told me: “I saw the Cat carrying one of her kittens, the black one, from the fire pit toward the side fence, toward the next door neighbor.
“Let me look.” So, I went to look inside, in the fire pit, and noticed only three kittens left instead of four.
“So Mady was right, the Cat transported her kittens again.” As I looked down in the fire pit, cranking my neck, I noticed that the kittens were swarming, one in top of the other, moving like they were dreaming, for their eyes were closed. (I was told that children when born have their eyes closed too).
When I turned, I noticed that the Cat was sitting behind me, at some distance, calmly watching my every move, as she was firmly standing her ground. “Was she afraid I’ll harm her kittens?”
I went back to sit on the chair and after a while, I noticed the Cat carrying her kittens, one after the other, toward the next door property.
Now, we have the back yard totally fenced in, as the back yard is our oases, our little Paradise, but the cats dig beneath the wooden fences, so they could travel from one property to the other.
(Just a thought: when traveling along Interstates look at the solid retaining walls on each side- the noise, or sound barriers- that protect the nearby houses from the noise of the Interstate and notice on the lower part of these walls there are small round holes left in the walls for the animals to cross from one side to the other. Same thing with my fences, only the holes were dug by the animals.)
Now, my next door neighbor is a country girl! She (not like me) knows how to care for the domestic animals! (I’m using the term “Girl” loosely as obvious both my neighbor and I, are well over a girl’s age.)
Like I said, the front yard of my neighbor is what one can call a "Disney Land" for cats!
For the kittens she put up a storage box (the blue ones, that you buy from Wall-Mart) turned upside down with a small doorway cut next to the bottom. Then, she installed a bottle with a drip line, so the kittens have fresh water, and put bowls of cat food. A blanket is covering the kittens' house, when the nights are cold. Her entire front yard is covered with red cypress mulch like a big litter box for the cats. Colored kites hang from the skeleton trees and bright colored plastic birds and flowers hang form the bushed. I saw cats playing and jumping to catch the plastic birds and flowing kites.
I really don’t care for what it does to the neighborhood’s esthetics, but is indeed a "Disney Land" for Cats.
No wonder my Cay moved her kittens on my neighbor’s yard.
Mother animals foremost duty to protect their young from predators. They have been known to go to extraordinary measures to their babies so that something can't find them and eat them. I think that the cat that it's kittens were safe enough in the fireplace (or warm enough). Of course, food and water are important--especially close by.
A couple of punctuation, wrong word choice, and other minor errors.
This second book in Edie's 'Puddle' series is filled with wonderful catchy rhyming poems that have positive nostalgic messages. Her whimsical illustrations carry the poems along on ripples of warm vibrant colours.
The Cat (Part 2)
