Friday, November 18, 2011

Kitty 24

I am participating in NANOWRIMO this year. I will attempt to post my daily ramblings in the hopes that eventually it will become a book which will entertain you as well as myself…

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright ã 2011 Plot Roach.

Kitty Part 24

By Plot Roach

They closed the doors behind them as they made their way backup to the apartment, not wanting any intruders to follow them. Though what intruders they expected, even Kitty did not know. While the raccoons and the rats skittered around in the dark, Kitty was filled with a foreboding feeling as if their stalker walked beside them in the daylight but could not be seen with the eye.

Once they were in the apartment, Kitty closed the door behind them until the slimmest of cracks betrayed the opening. We have to get out of here and fast, Kitty thought. She trusted her instincts which had been honed by her years of life on the streets. But would the cats?

Shakespeare was where they had left him, his steady breathing betrayed his slumber. Blue and Prue were still in the kitchen, arguing amongst themselves where the best place was to move their bowels. “But the litter box id full!” Prue whined. “I can’t go where I’ve already gone before.”

‘Well do you think that Craig is just going to come back from the dead long enough to cleanout the box for you?” Blue said. “I say go wherever you can find the room. Craig is not going to mind, and it’s not like we are going to stay here for the rest of our lives.”

“But I don’t want to leave!” Prue cried. “This has been my home since I was a kitten. This is where Craig made me better when I got sick. This is where I grew up.”

Kitty could feel her stomach twist with the little cat’s words. She longed for her old den under the human apartment complex. And it was all she could do not to run back there, pad in a circle across the dirt floor packed hard by the passing of many paws and curl up into a deep sleep, wishing that all of this had been just a bad dream brought on by old human scraps of food. But no amount of wishing in the world could ever bring her old world back to her. For if she did have that power, she would certainly put Shakespeare and the cats’ lives back on track by bringing back their dead human master.

How can one human mean so much? She asked herself as she paused at the water bowl to get a drink. Blue had not been lying earlier when he said that it needed to be refilled. But as she peeked into the living room she did not think that she could rouse Shakes from his slumber for something that was so important but that seemed so mundane. Instead, she jumped up to the kitchen sink herself, bracing her front paws against a cabinet while she pushed at the lever she had seen Shakes use the night before. But this time nothing had come out.

“The water is all dries up.” Blue said solemnly. “I checked the faucet that drips in the bathroom, but that one is also dry.”

“Then we need to get out of here now.” Kitty said, a determined tone in her voice.

“But I don’t want to go!” Prue wailed.

“Now Prue,” blue said. “We’ve been over this-”

“NO!” the little Siamese yowled. “I won’t go and you can’t make me!”

“You’re acting like a spoiled kitten!” Blue said, swatting at the other cat to break her out of her temper tantrum. But it only made things worse when Prue launched herself at blue, claws unsheathed and out for blood.

Great All Mother, Kitty prayed. What am I going to do?”

But is was not the doggie goddess that answered Kitty’s prayers, but a street smart calico cat. As the cream and grayish blue ball rolled around the kitchen floor, spitting and snarling, Lucy tossed the catnip mouse into the fray. Immediately both cats stopped to snatch at the fake herb stuffed rodent.

“Where did you get this?!’ Prue asked.

“It’s at our new home,” Lucy said, with a smug look on her face. “All the toys you could ever play with. And all sorts of good human food as well.” the calico cat looked over at Kitty and gave her a wink.

“There’s even a safe place for you bed,” Kitty said. “Lucy and I set it all up this afternoon so that it would be waiting for you when you were ready to leave.”

“Really?” Prue asked, snatching the catnip stuffed mouse away from Blue.

“You Won’t know for sue until you come with us to check it out,” Lucy teased. “But I for one am not going to spend another night here. I’m going to sleep in my own fleece lined bed, with catnip toys to play with and all the liverwurst I can eat.”

“Liverwurst?!” Blue exclaimed. “You did not happen to find my favorite while you were down there, did you?” In answer to his question, Lucy merely breathed upon his face and he inhaled the scent from her lips as if he could suck the meaty treat from the air in her lungs.

“Meet us by the door in a few minutes,” Lucy said. ”Take whatever you need with you. But know that once we are there, we won’t be coming back.”

“Not ever?” Prue said.

“It won’t be safe anymore,” Kitty explained.

“But why?”

“Because… “ Kitty began to say, trying to find the right words and yet still attempting to be delicate about it. He was their master, after all. Kitty reminded herself. “Because the body will be rotting and between the disease and the pests, it won’t be safe for you to come back.”

“Oh,” said Prue. “But who will watch over Craig?”

Kitty looked over to the dead human sitting on the couch and the dog who lay next to him. She spoke loudly, hoping that she could reach through the shell of sadness that the service dog had erected around himself when his master had died. “The humans will come for him after we leave,” she lied. “But they won’t come if we don’t leave the apartment.”

“Why is that?” Prue asked. “Don’t they like us?”

Who taught this cat to be so curious? Kitty asked herself, scrambling her brain for an answer when Lucy beat her to it. “Because they are afraid that we might be sick too.”

“Oh, okay,” the Siamese said and stalked off with the catnip mouse to wait by the front door.

“What about you, Blue?” Lucy asked. “Do you have any questions.”

“No,” he said, winking at the calico cat. “You have already taken care of that for me.” he leaped up to the kitchen counter and looked out the window. “I’ll never see this skyline again,” he said to the dog and the cat who waited patiently on the floor.

“No,” Lucy said. “You’ll see a better one.”

“You’ll be your own cat again,’ Kitty said, remembering Lucy’s words earlier that day, and thinking to inspire the Russian Blue.

“But I never really wanted to be my own cat,” Blue said. “I’ve been with Craig the longest, you know. And I’ll miss him fiercely. I think it’s wrong somehow when pets are forced to outlive their masters.”

Blue jumped down off the counter and walked up to Prue, rubbing his chin against her cheek as she played quietly with the catnip mouse. This left Lucy and kitty the hard task of trying to convince Shakespeare to leave Craig behind.

“Shakespeare,” Lucy whispered from the floor. ”It’s time to go now.”

“I won’t.“ he said.

“Didn’t you hear a word that we said to Lucy?” she asked.

“I don’t care, I won’t leave him here to be -eaten by those THINGS!” he snarled.

“He’s not there anymore, Shakes,” Kitty said, trying to convince her friend of the situation at hand. “His soul has moved on with his own Dark One. You need to let his body go and live your own life.”

“And what if I don’t want to?” he asked. “What if I just stay here and waste away with him?”

“His Dark One will not come to collect your soul, only the Black Dog will.”

“So I’ll never see him again?” Shakes howled. “All this time together and that’s it? That’s all we will ever have? It’s not fair.”

Kitty took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she could attend to her friend and his needs. “Shakes,” she said. “I’ve seen the Afterlife. And I can tell you that it is a wonderful place. I never saw any humans there, but the place was filled with green plants and plenty of game. And when you run there, it’s like you never get tired and you never grow old.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Shakes asked.

“I think that the humans must have an Afterlife of their own. And that Craig is there now, with his own kind. And he can probably see again-”

“So he won’t need me.” he spat.

“Yes, but not in the way that you think,” Kitty said. “I think that wherever he is, he’s talking about you to the other humans that are there. And maybe they’ve all missed their animals too, be they pets or service animals. And maybe..?”

“Yes, Kitty?”

“Maybe there’s a place where the walls of those two worlds, the Afterlife of the humans and the dogs, are thin enough that if you really wanted to you could slip through or dig under and see him again.”

“Service dogs aren’t supposed to dig.” Shakespeare said, getting off of the couch.

“Well, I was just-”

“It’s okay, Kitty. I know what you were trying to say. Thank you.” Shakes leaned forward and licked her muzzle before she could pull away. This time she did not snarl or bite, and was relieved when she found that she actually enjoyed the sign of affection from the golden retriever. She smiled and looked down.
“Better be careful, Kitty,” Shakes said. ‘Or someone might mistake you for a civilized dog.’

The group of animals made once last farewell to the cold corps of their former master. They took a drink of water, ate what food they could and carried a piece of their former lives with them as they left the apartment for the last time.

Shakes closed the door tightly behind them, assuring himself that nothing would eat upon his master when they left. The two dogs and three cats made an awkward pilgrimage in the stairwell as they descended to the street. Shakes let the door close behind him, and sighed, a heaviness lifting from his heart. Though his master was gone, he would never truly be forgotten for his kind words, laughter and good deeds lived on in the mind of his canine companion.

“Do you think that the humans will always fear us?” Prue asked.

“No.” I think they’ll know we’re not sick when they see how much food we’ve eaten at the store.” Lucy said.

“Tell me again about the liverwurst.” Blue begged, though it seemed beneath him. “You know how much I love it so.”

“There’s mountains of the stuff,” Kitty said.

As the sun set on their final day in the apartment, it brought out bright new stars for their future. The world seemed new and clean, though it was littered with the remnants of human society. Lucy climbed the tree near the supermarket wall and let them in through the side emergency exit. Shakes shook his head at the feline’s talent.

‘Why didn’t you let us know that you could do that?” he asked Lucy. “I never would have thought to do that on my own.”

“What?” she asked, winking. “Then I’d have to do tricks all day to amuse you. And a cat has to have her standards, you know.”
 
* * *

This is, by no means, the end of the Kitty saga. Will the animals be happy living in the supermarket? What has happened to the humans that survived the illness? Will they reclaim the land form the animals? We still haven’t seen what happened to Grimy. And what of the circus animals that were shipped to the zoo? You’ll have to stay tuned while I work on the next installment of Kitty’s story. Though this time I may type a little slower.

Thanks to all who read and enjoyed my tale.

 
 
 
 
 

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