Kitty 6

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 6

By Plot Roach

She was running, the soft sand warm beneath her feet. The golden sun hung like a kite stuck in a tree, unmoving and bright as a child's toy. The warmth that played over her skin was delicious and she felt like she could run like this forever.

She was aware of water beside her, waves crashing down upon her feet. When she stopped to look, the sheer size of it overwhelmed her. Bright blue water ate hungrily the horizon and made her dizzy with its dance.

She sat, unsure that she could keep herself from falling in. What IS this? she asked herself.
"It is called the ocean" said a voice from behind her.

Kitty turned and faced the biggest dog she had ever seen. At least she thought that it was a dog, for it was much bigger than she ever imagined that a dog could ever be and much shaggier, as if made from hair alone. She feared what the animal could do to her if it chose to attack and hoped that it had already fed before meeting her.

"What are you?"

"I am the All Mother, the first dire wolf from which all dogs are descended from."

"Does it hurt?" Kitty asked.

"Does what hurt?" the All Mother asked.

"To be that big." Kitty said. "My bones hurt when the weather changes, and I figure that is because I'm the size I am. I mean, you never hear of the smaller dogs kept in human women’s purses complain of pain. But someone like you must hurt unbearably so."

"It's not from your size, dear daughter. But from the wounds you have received from the world in which you walk." The All Mother said, touching noses with her. Kitty fought with herself to keep from backing away, should she somehow offend the wolf and be torn to pieces. A shiver passed through her like lightning and the big wolf backed away.

"What happened?" Kitty asked, for she was sure that the touch had somehow changed her.

"I have blessed you with a gift." the All Mother said. "It will guide you in dark times when you cannot even trust the truth from your nose."

"What does it do?" Kitty asked. "This gift which you have given to me."

"You will know when you need it the most."

And as she watched the All Mother breasts began to leak milk. What fell into the ocean turned into brightly colored fish that swam away into the water's depths. What leaked onto land became plants which grew into thick clumps and from them darted small animals and insects.
Kitty opened her muzzle, about to ask why she was being honored with such gifts that the All Mother and the Dark One had given to her, but her vision was disturbed by gust of wind blown sand. When Kitty opened her eyes, the All Mother had faded into a lump of sand and land debris which, even as she watched, was claimed by the rolling waves of the ocean.

Kitty woke with a start in her cell, the metal clink of the food bowl slammed against the hard cement floor, spilling out a good bit of it into her water bowl. The human moved on to the cell next to hers, depositing food bowls in each on. He neither spoke with the inhabitants nor kept the dogs from fighting amongst themselves over their dry kibble ration

Kitty lurched to her feet, a bit more steady than the first time, yet still not up to her everyday standards.

"Save me some! Save me some!" Grimy yapped from his cage. The other dogs which shared his cell had pushed him out of the way to gorge on the kibble themselves, the little dog being left out of the feeding until the others had had their fill. When it was over, there was not a single bit of dry kibble to be had for the rat terrier who was forced to fill his belly with the cold metallic water from the water bowl since there was nothing else to fill it. He flopped on his side at the front of the cage, his sigh a testament to his place in life.

And he was once the alpha of his own pack, Kitty reminded herself. It must have been filled with very small dogs indeed, if he managed to push his way to the top rank.

"I would give you some of mine, if I could." Kitty said. "But the hallway between our cages is too far for your mouth to reach.

"Thanks, Kitty. But I'm not hungry anyway." Grimy sniffed, trying to look as though it was his idea not to eat instead of being forced away from the food bowl.

"If only they had put you in my cell with me." Kitty said.

"No one will be going in your cage." Mitch said, sauntering past.

"And why is that?" Kitty asked.

"It is because the people who run this place have deemed you a 'feral'. You have wild animal blood in you."

"How is that?" Kitty asked. "How could they know such a thing when I don't even know about it myself?"

"By your blood, and by the way you look." Mitch said. Kitty once again licked the shaved patch of skin on her leg, remembering the tubes that the human woman had put into her. As she groomed, Mitch stopped, eyes locked on hers. A bit of his ruff raised and a soft whine was caught in his throat.

"Mitch, are you okay?" Kitty asked, pulling herself up from the cement floor of her cage.

Mitch backed away, the growl now louder. And his eyes were now locked on her own.

"Mitch, what has gotten into you?" Kitty asked.

When he backed up to the front gate of the cage behind him, Grimy jumped to his feet and bit the collie on the haunch to break him out of his trance.

Mitch snapped out of it, panting hard and trying not to meet Kitty's eyes as he spoke.

"I'm sorry, girl. I don't know what came over me. It's just those eyes of yours. And it seems like you've somehow... changed... overnight."

"Changed how?" Kitty asked, looking from the border collie to Grimy.

"He's right, Kitty." Grimy said, tongue lolling to the side of his mouth in laughter. "You're a bit bigger than you were yesterday. A bit fiercer looking too."

"My eyes?" Kitty asked. "I'm the one with odd eyes when yours are two different colors, Mitch?"

"What was that you just said?" Mitch asked. "The thing about ‘colors‘?"

"Your eyes." Kitty said. "They are two different colors, the right one is brown and the left one is blue."

"And how do you know of ‘blue’ and ‘brown’ when the rest of us do not know those colors?"

"It was the colors that I saw in the dream that I just had. The beach sand was brown and the water was a deep blue."

"Kitty, have you even seen a beach in your life?" Mitch asked.

"No, I've always lived in or near the city."

"So how do you even know what one is?" Mitch asked.

"It was from my dream..."

"What was the dream about?" Grimy asked.

"I was running along the beach and I stopped to look at the water. That's when I met the All Mother." Kitty said. She was suddenly aware that the cell block where she ad Grimy were being held had gone deathly quiet. She looked up and saw that all eyes were now trained on her and ears were perked in her direction.

"You dreamt of the All Mother?" Asked a Rottweiler in the cage beside Grimy. "What did she look like?"

"How do we know that it wasn't just some dream?" asked a Dalmatian. "Who knows what the All Mother looks like?"

"I hear that she appears as the same species as the dog she appears to when she grants him a vision." said a Chihuahua in Grimy's cage. He had been left out of the feast of kibble as had Grimy. He shot evil looks to the others dogs that had deprived them of their meal, biting them on the legs and dashing away before he could be caught.

"I have seen her." said an old dog. "When I was a young fool and chased a child's rubber ball into a street. A car hit me as I was fetching it and I was in the world between the living and the dead." The old hound said, his eye searching the room behind thick white cataracts. I met the All Mother who told me that I sill had something important left to do in this world before I could live there amongst the Celestial Packs. The Dark One himself escorted me back. Tell me child, what did she look like and I will know whether or not you tell the truth."

Kitty sat on her haunches, took a deep breath and tried to steady her mind. "When I saw the All Mother she looked like a big, shaggy dog. Much bigger than I have ever seen any dog before in my life. When I saw the Dark One, he shifted constantly from one form of dog to another, but he was always black."

"So you saw both of them then, did you?" the old hound asked.

"Not at the same time." Kitty admitted. "I saw the Dark One first, when I was first trapped in the metal cage that the humans had set outside my den. Then I saw the All Mother just now in a dream."

The old hound smiled and nodded. “She has seen them alright.” He laid down at the edge of the cage door, his breath labored as he spoke. “They do not come to just any dog.” he said. “But to those who have a great fate in store for them. You are on a mighty path, my dear. Walk it with determination, for the gods themselves are with you.”

“That is what the dark One told me.” kitty said, thinking back to when she met him in the forest.
“What else did they tell you?” asked the Dalmatian.

“Did they tell you how to get out of these cages?” the Chihuahua asked.

“I already know how to get out of these cages.” Kitty said. And as it surprised her as much as the others, she knew how to work the lock on the door just as the humans did.

“Then get us out!” barked the Rottweiler.

“I cannot.” Kitty admitted. “The locking mechanism is too high up and my paws aren’t the right… way to open the cages.”

“What other ‘way’ could your paws be?” Mitch asked.

“Well, it’s not like I have a human’s paws. Then I could manipulate anything that they could.” Kitty said.

“You could open all the cages…” Mitch said in awe.

“And open up cans of food.” said the Chihuahua.

“And warm it up!” said Grimy, licking the saliva from his jaws.

“But all of this does us no good, ladies and gentlemen, if her paws cannot do what a human’s can.” Mitch said, sighing. “If only…”

“’If only’ what?” asked Kitty.

“If only we had the help of someone who could.”

“And who would help us?” Grimy asked.

“The raccoon!” Kitty barked. “I told him how to get out, and he did it.”

“Yeah, and he left us for the humans, remember?” Grimy said, tongue lolling as he laughed.

“Maybe another one could help us, or some other animal with dexterous paws.” Kitty suggested.

“We’ll have to get some help soon, if we don’t want to end up there…” she said, looking down the long hallway to the door at the end.

“But how would we find such a creature?” Grimy asked, licking the side of his front right paw, and using it to groom his face.

“The humans occasionally bring such creatures in when they catch them.” Mitch said. “though those that have not been re-released are often sick and have to be destroyed.”

“Is is the foaming madness?” Grimy asked.

“What’s that?” Kitty asked.

“Rabies is what the humans call it. It is when an animal becomes sick with an illness so evil it cooks the brain of the creature infected with it, so much so that it confuses them into attack those around him, even pack members -even humans with guns.”

More than one dog shrunk to the back of the cage at the mention of that illness. And Kitty shook her head with the knowledge that there was such a thing.” The worst thing that I have ever suffered as an illness was aching bones in winter and perhaps a few cases of stomach problems when humans mixed poison and other things into the food that they didn’t want me to eat.”

“Then count yourself lucky, dear girl.” Mitch said. “As many have been brought here in the first stages of the madness only to have to be put down by the humans when their blood tested positive for it.”

“How will you know then when you see one of these creatures that the humans have caged, if it has the disease or not?” Kitty asked.

“I will just have to take my chances.” Mitch said. “If it means getting you all out alive.”

“Won’t you get into trouble?” Grimy asked. “I’d hate to have you get cooped up inside a cage like us on account of trying to help us out.”

“What? How could the humans believe that I, a mere dog, could ever open the cage doors and release you?” Mitch laughed. “Humans may be smart enough to set up cages and drive cars, but I doubt that they could conceive of something like that!”

“Just be extra careful.” Kitty said “I would hate for you to get bit and end up with the foaming sickness.”

“As would I.” Mitch said. ”As would I”

Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion at the other end of the cellblock. A great tirade of barks and human yelling was peppered by the screeching of animals unknown.

“What in the world could that be?” Mitch asked, racing in the direction of the hullabaloo.
The noises continued while the dogs on their block barked along with the cacophony. Kitty, with an inner stillness that was unlike her, sat on the floor of her cage, ears pointed at the point of origin.

Even Grimy had broken down and begun barking with all his breath. But Kitty sat and concentrated on the ruckus, as if she could make out what was happening by her sense of sound alone. Normally she would have been in the farthest corner of her cell, curled into a ball with her tail tucked tightly against her genitals and her eyes closed to the trouble until it could pass her by.

“It’s a mess!” Mitch said, as he tore around the corner, barking as loud as the other occupants of the pound. “The humans have really bit off more than the can chew this time!”

“What is it?!” Grimy asked, his coming in short gasps from winding himself with all the barking.

“There was a circus in town.” Mitch panted. “They came into some trouble and all of their animals were confiscated. There’s things in the holding yard I’ve never seen before. And believe me, I’ve worked with the humans here for most of my adult life, twenty seasons at least.”

“Like what?” asked the Dalmatian.

“There’s a horse out there, but it has stripes!” Mitch panted. “It looks it got caught in the shadows behind a fence when the sun was up and got sunburned between the slats! The humans must be up to something -I mean, how can an animal actually be born looking like that?”

The dogs in the cages lunged forward and sniffed at the fur of the border collie. “What’s that?” the Chihuahua asked, sniffing Mitch’s paw.

“It was left behind by something they called an ’elephant’. It was HUGE. At least the size of three horses put together.

Kitty had no idea what Mitch was talking about, having never seen a horse before. “Is a horse like a deer?” she asked.

“I thought that you lived in the city?” Mitch asked. “How do you know what a deer is?”

“I saw it in the other world, when I was with the Dark One.”

Mitch shook with a shiver at the name of Death. “A horse it a bit bigger, with thicker legs. Most have been tamed by humans who ride them when they choose not to ride around in their cars.”
“If they’re so big, why don’t they throw off the human on their backs and run of for the wilds?” asked the Chihuahua.

“Maybe they’re just too stupid to know how.” said the Rottweiler.

“Or maybe they just forgot how.” said the Dalmatian.

“It is because there are very few “wild” places left.’ said the old hound dog. “And when the land forgets what it was, so do the animals connected to it, no matter where they have gone.”

“Bigger than a deer.” Kitty mumbled to herself. And found herself wondering if this ‘elephant’ that Mitch spoke of was bigger than the All Mother. But it seemed impossible. Nothing could be as large as that. The All Mother was even bigger than the deer she had seen in the world beyond when she was visited by the Dark one.

“Bigger than a car.” Mitch added. “Bigger than the wall of this cell.” he said, pawing the chain link gate to her cage.

“Nothing is as big as THAT.” she said.

“You will believe me when you see it for yourself.” Mitch said.

“And just how will THAT happen?” she asked, sighing and settling down on the cold hard floor of her cage.

“One of those animals just HAS to be what we are looking for. One with dexterous hands to let you all out of your cages.” Mitch panted. “We just have to find out which one it is.”