Santa Paws

“Hey, Sir Isaac. Did you know that tomorrow is Kissmas?”

Sir Isaac looks down his nose at the one speaking to him. “Yeeessss, I know of the holiday. Though, I don’t celebrate it at all,” he states with a long drawl.

“Why not? It’s so much fun. We get new toys and treats. Our parents give us extras on our plates for Christmas dinner. My tummy gets all full, then I go outside and play in the cold. It is an awesome time,” Geronimo replies.

“The toys, your parents,” the word is said with a mouthful of disgust, “ is just to placate you and keep you out of their hair. No matter how many times you call them that, I will not take the term in use towards me. They are peasants and are only here to serve me. When I am hungry, they are to feed me. That is all that they are good for, and barely that most days,” Sir Isaac says.

Geronimo, Gerry for short, thinks about what Sir Isaac Mewton says and she doesn’t like it. Her parents are loving people and they give her things to make her happy. It isn’t just to keep her out of their hair. Sometimes, they even sit on the floor and play with the toys with her. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t love her. Sir Isaac is just old and grumpy. He doesn’t like to play anymore and because of his medical conditions, he can’t have the same snacks that Gerry has.

“I saw you playing with the tinsel on the tree yesterday. It seemed like you were having fun doing that,” Gerry shoots back.

“Playing? Hardly. I don’t play. I was trying to figure out the best way to attack the tree if it decided to come after me. I do that with all of the new plants in the home. If they are set on a shelf, I push them to the floor so that they know that the shelves and counters are mine. We don’t need all of the clutter around getting in the way of where I would like to nap. Your parents are always yelling about it, but they have learned to keep that stuff away from my areas,” Sir Isaac replied as he stretched and lay down on the couch. The afternoon sun was just right. The couch had been warmed by it, but the light wouldn’t be in his eyes as he slept. It was the perfect time of the day and this youngling was bothering him with questions about Kissmas. As if it mattered at all, he thought.

Gerry gave up on trying to have a conversation with the old cat. He just wanted to do what he wanted and thought everything that she did was foolish and stupid. She was a full three years old and knew a lot of things. She just didn’t look at the world through hardened eyes like Sir Isaac did. He had to have been young once, though he probably wouldn’t admit it to her.

As the day wore on, Gerry’s excitement built. Tonight was Kissmas and Santa Paws was going to stop by. Gerry had been a good girl this year, her parents said so. She would be able to stay out of the crate and sleep either with them in bed or on the couch like she usually did. Her parents slept for long times at night, so Gerry moved from their bed to the floor and then usually to the couch before they got up in the morning.

Sir Isaac usually says that nothing good happens on Kissmas Eve night, but Gerry wants to see for herself. She has sat on the couch with her mom for the last few weeks and watched all of these TV shows about Santa Paws and his little elves. She has seen how he comes into the house and puts all of the presents down for the good girls and boys. She’s been a good girl, so she should get lots of presents.

Gerry thinks to herself for a moment. Maybe that’s why Sir Isaac doesn’t like Kissmas. He’s never a good boy. He even admits to throwing Mom’s plants on the floor. Maybe he gets coal in his stocking and what would a cat do with coal? With this new thought, Gerry lays down and waits for her parents to get home. Then she’ll get her dinner and a walk. Gerry was a good girl, but patience wasn’t her strong suit. The faster this night went, the better. She couldn’t wait to meet Santa Paws.

A little while later, Gerry gets up and greets her parents at the door. They have some really good-smelling food with them. As she waits for them to put the food down to give her pets, she sniffs their feet and legs to see if they’ve been anywhere different today. Mom has been to the grocery store and Dad has been to a place that she doesn’t recognize. Maybe he was getting new presents for everyone. Gerry loved presents. Especially presents that she could eat.

Thinking about food made her tummy growl. It was a little past dinner time. Mom and Dad got home a little late. She hoped that didn’t mean they would skip her walk.

“Sorry Gerry, we need to skip your walk tonight, honey. The Joneses are coming over for dinner and we have to get ready. Daddy will feed you in a second, though,” Mom explained.

Gerry was disappointed that she wouldn’t get her walk tonight, she looked forward to them. But she liked the Joneses people. They always gave her treats behind Mom’s back. They also gave really good belly scratches. Gerry guessed that this would almost be as good as a walk.

She walked to her bowl as her dad set it on the floor for her. She loved her dinner food, even though it was the same as her breakfast food. Dinner was different because she was more awake than breakfast, so she tasted it better. Gerry wasn’t sure how it all worked, but she was content with it. After dinner, she waited for the Joneses to show up and give her pets and treats. While all of this was going on, Sir Isaac moved around and looked for something to push off of the counter. Mom and Dad had ignored him when they got home, they were so busy, so he was mad. When he was mad, he usually broke things to feel better. He was a weird cat.

The Joneses showed up and ate dinner with Mom and Dad. They fed Gerry under the table as they usually did, then gave her belly rubs on the couch while they talked and drank. The night flew by, and before she knew it, the friends were leaving, and it was just the four of them again. Mom was tired and went straight to bed, but Dad said he wasn’t, so he was staying up to watch TV for a bit. He wanted to watch one of his movies since he was tired of all the Hallmark ones that Mom watched. Gerry didn’t like his movies as much as Mom’s, but she would stay up with him and keep him company.

As Mom turned in and Dad turned his movies on, Gerry jumped up on the couch next to him and laid her head in his lap. He stroked her head and started the movie. Although she didn’t understand it all, Gerry knew that this movie wasn’t about Santa Paws, even though he wore a jacket that looked like it. This guy had big horns on his head and he was bad. He wouldn’t be getting any presents this year if he acted like that all of the time, Gerry thought.

After the movie was over, Gerry was still shaking when Dad went to bed. How could he go to bed after watching that? Gerry got up off the couch to find Sir Isaac and see if he knew of the Catpuss monster that they had just watched.

“Sir Isaac?” she called out to him.

“What?” was his curt reply.

“Do you know of the Catpuss monster on Kissmas?”

“What? Oh, you mean... never mind. I do. It punishes bad kids, whereas Santa rewards good ones. Is that what you're talking about?” Sir Isaac responded.

Gerry could tell that he had been asleep and she had woken him up. He was extra crabby when that happened.

“Yes, are you scared?” Gerry asked him sheepishly. She was worried about him now that she knew that bad kids got punished by the Catpuss.

“No. One-I’m not a kid. Two- I’m not bad. I just don’t like many things. And Three- I don’t believe in that crap. Now go to the couch or the room and leave me be,” Sir Isaac shouted at her.

The Catpuss was definitely going to punish him tonight. Hopefully, it was just a small swat with his stick. She didn’t want Sir Isaac to be taken or eaten like the bad kids in the movie. Gerry decided that she needed to be on watch all night. Not only to see Santa Paws but also to protect Sir Isaac from the Catpuss.

Gerry set herself by the Kissmas tree and kept watch late into the night. It was hard for her to keep her eyes open for the whole time. She thinks that she has fallen asleep for a little bit. When she woke herself up, she looked around and nothing had changed so it was ok. As the morning sun rose in the windows, Gerry was happy and sad all at the same time. She had missed Santa Paws, but at the same time, Sir Isaac wasn’t attacked by the Catpuss.

Gerry stretched and decided to let Sir Isaac know that he was safe again before going in and waking up Mom and Dad. They needed to get up and make her breakfast. She was hungry again. Gerry walked all through the house and couldn’t find Sir Isaac anywhere. He hid in several spots, but she had checked them all. He wasn’t anywhere. Did the Catpuss get in when Gerry was asleep and she didn’t hear it? She decided to run in and tell her parents that Sir Isaac was missing and that the Catpuss had gotten him.

As she ran into the room barking and whining, Dad threw a pillow at her. She dodged it easily, she was quicker than that. She then jumped up on the bed and whined at them both. They needed to get up and look for Sir Isaac. He was taken by the Catpuss and they didn’t even know. Plus, Santa Paws hadn’t come and given her her gifts. She had been good, she deserved to get gifts from the big man.

Gerry was working herself into a tizzy by the time Mom got up and told her to go outside. She barked, whined and ran around the house to show Mom that Sir Isaac wasn’t there. Mom wasn’t listening, though, she just yelled at Gerry and called her a bad girl. Gerry wasn’t a bad girl. She wanted her friend Sir Isaac back from the Catpuss. In the end, Mom yelled again, and Gerry went outside.

Once outside, Gerry walked around the house looking for the scent of the Catpuss. He had to leave a scent somewhere. He didn’t come down the chimney like Santa Paws, so he had to have gotten in some other way. Gerry ran all around the house, sniffing the doors, windows and all of the bushes. She couldn’t smell the Catpuss nor Sir Isaac. She became very sad to know that the Catpuss had taken her friend away. He wasn’t bad, he was just a grumpy old cat. He wanted attention just like she did, he just didn’t know how to ask for it. He wanted it to be given.

When Mom called her back inside, Gerry moved to the door slowly. She went to the kitchen and ate her breakfast, though it didn’t taste very good. After she ate, Gerry went into the living room and looked for Sir Isaac again. He wasn’t in his usual spots. Gerry gave up and laid by the tree. Mom and Dad hadn’t even noticed that Sir Isaac was gone yet.

As Mom and Dad sat down to open their presents, Gerry lay next to them with sadness filling her. She liked Sir Isaac and wanted him here with her. Even getting new snacks and toys only cheered her up for a little bit before the sadness worked its way back into her.

When Mom grabbed the last present, a ball fell off of the tree and hit her in the head. She looked around and couldn’t see why it had fallen. Gerry perked up, waiting to see if the Catpuss had stayed hidden in the tree and tried to take her Mom and Dad too. She stared at the tree and started to growl when she saw the tree branches move. The Cattpuss was hiding in the tree! Gerry was tight and ready to pounce. Suddenly, a creature pounced out of the tree and right onto Gerry. Her growl switched to a whine as she was scared that the Catpuss was going to take her away, too.

Mom and Dad started to laugh. How could they? She was being taken by the Catpuss! It was then that she heard a familiar voice.

“Scared you, didn’t I?” Sir Isaac said. “I hid in that tree all morning to get you. You never knew it,” he laughed as he walked off.

“I thought the Catpuss got you,” Gerry said to him.

“I told you he wasn’t real. Plus, I’m not bad. I’m just misunderstood. You missed Santa Paws last night. Did you know that?”

“I thought you didn’t believe in him,” Gerry replied while following him to the kitchen.

Sir Isaac hadn’t eaten yet and he was hungry. Staying hidden in the tree all morning and not laughing at Gerry was hard work. “I never said that. You just assumed that was what I meant.”

Gerry could’ve sworn he had said as much, but she was so happy to see him still alive and in her home that she let it slide. Sir Isaac had played a trick on her, but it was a game trick. It was playing. Maybe he would play with her more in the future. With that in mind, Gerry went back to the living room to eat her Kissmas treats and play with her new toys. Kissmas was a good time of year!