Stray Cat Blues

The sky had began exploding in colorful bursts when I freaked out and lost control. I ran far away from home, and made it to an opened dark shed a mile away in the next town over. When I arrived, there was a creature lurking there on the edge of a fence with its mouth hung wide open, it hissed when it noticed my scent. 

"Beware, whiskered-one...they don't leave the spaghetti out on Mondays" she said with a crackle in her voice. It was an Opossum smiling with her big yellow teeth. She walked closer from the fence to get a better look at me. "You're skinny." She said, scanning me up and down. "If I find something good and smelly, you get first dibs."

"Thanks. But, I'm not thinking about food, I'm really scared."

"Scared of what?"

"The sky, it seems to be falling. I don't know what to do."

"Ehhh." She didn't seem bothered by the raucous the sky made, but she was more fixated on the opened garbage container with the ripped bag of leftovers. She took another big whiff with her elongated peach-colored nose. "Mmm! Smells like yummy casserole in there. Nothing is worth being afraid of more than not having a meal for the night, whiskers." 

I had been trembling in fear, but the walls around me numbed the loud noises and made it bearable.

But, I wasn't the only one bothered by the artillary noises, I could hear the howls of my neighbors from every direction.

"Help! Help! What is this noise!" Several Shih-Tzus cried out from the windows in the apartment next door. 

"Why won't it end!" said an old Bulldog.

"Shut up! It hurts my ears so bad! Stop it, I'll bite your ankles!" a German Shepherd threatened the sky with a shrill bark. 

All of those dogs howled in a symphony, one after the other. We all had one thing in common that night, we were helpless to stop it. I still don't know how I managed to sleep through the screams, but I did. The next morning I followed the smells of rotten eggs, which I don't usually mind, sometimes there's a good meal tied with rotten eggs. There was debris allover the streets, like a war zone of ash and used cylinder cardboards. I came out of my shed to look for food, and was lucky enough to partake in a small amount the Opossum left me, but I was quick to return to my new safe haven when I finished. 

"Wake up everyone! It's time to break a leg! You got this!" said the early birds, singing from the telephone lines. They were up bright and early and looked like a delicious shish kebab from down below.

If only they were a few feet lower and I could lunge myself from the roof tops, I could rip their heads apart and gift them to my human, I bet they were tasty inside too. It wasn't too long before someone took an interest in me, a couple of strangers. I don't like strangers too much, especially when they don't introduce themselves with ample supplies of fish snacks, I was rightfully suspicious when I smelled them approach me, so I hid deep in the corners. The only human I could tolerate was Gabriel, a giantess with a big bushy beard. I wish I was back in my throne with him, sliding on the wooden floors and scratching the couch, taking poops on my comfortable sandy box to mark my territory and eating Fancy Feast Ocean Whitefish out of a can (yum!).

"Hey, little guy. You lost out here?" the voice of the foreign human said. He turned over to another one of them with a much longer mane. "Mary, grab a towel so it won't scratch me." He reached out to me but, I hissed at his mutterings.

"Get away or I'll cut you!"

"No! Bad kitty!" 

He reached his hand over again, but I wasn't quick enough to cling to his wrist. 

The next thing I knew, I'm placed in a small confinement and I could see their ugly scary faces gawking down at me. I threw a fit but rightfully so, I hissed, and I showed off my scary fangs and even spat at them.

My journey under their care was short, I ended up in another strange place afterwards, but this one was a prison and much larger than where I've ever stayed.

I could smell them all when I arrived, the dozens if not hundreds of other's like me, all diverse, all equally terrified and confused. The young and old kittens were calm for the most part, but those smelly dumb dogs wouldn't shut up!  

"Hi friend!" a Golden Retriever startled me from within his cage. He leaned over to the front. "Can I smell you?! Please!?"

They are by the far the most annoying of canine breeds. 

"Welcome to Hell." said a short hair with a black fur positioned next to where they placed me, he was a lot like me and we got along. His name was Gary, a well fed dark shorthair who enjoyed long uninterrupted naps. "It doesn't get easier so sit tight, get use to the odor. At least they feed us few times a day, it's the one good thing about living in Hell. Besides, laughing at Felix, he has the funny-looking flat-face and he's a ginger cat so you know he's up to no good."

"I heard that, Lucky."

"Sorry Felix."

The humans placed me in a cage, and named me Smudge as indicated on my Biography, maybe from the birthmark on my face that was dark as a blueberry.

"Smudge, check out this miserable little human girl. She's been coming around the last few days, just taps on the window to annoy us, and looks around for the babies. She is a kidnapper!" 

I didn't see her at first, until her face was pressed against my enclosure. Seeing her face up close scared me enough that I jumped back and went on fight mode and swung my fist like a Lion.

It didn't faze her. She walked over and read our written origin biography.

"Mommy. What about that one?" 

"Oh, look at the little spot on his face, he looks like Hitler reincarnated."

"Adolf Catler." said another human.

"What's a Hitler?" 

They guided her away to the next cage.

"No one Honey, we need to find you a younger kitty, you can grow up with. This ones too old for you. She's probably even feral the way it keeps hissing. She's too dangerous for you to own."

At least for now I had peace. Each day there was uncertainty, I looked for Gary for advice, but he had only resentment. "Gary, how long have you been out here, big guy?"

"Too long!" Gary said. "I don't like it, I wasn't meant to be trapped. I'm a predator and our ancestors they were apex predators, y'know? This is our kingdom, and these humans should be worshipping the ground we step on. But, they're horrible, every one of them, especially the little ones that can't walk yet. They take away your space and tarnish it."

Someone took Felix out of his cage, and we watched it unfold.

He purred and caressed his pheromones with his bushy tail against the humans before they placed him back abruptly. 

Me and Gary's eyes darted at each other.

"See that? He's got no morals. I would have aimed my claws at their eyes!"

Gary was wise and experienced about this place, but seeing Felix purr like that sounded like happiness to me. Happiness, I hadn't experienced since my servant, Gabriel was around catering to me and making me feel like I had a home. 

I slept that night barely 12 hours worried sick wondering if I'd ever see him again.

*****

"Hey! Hey! Good morning, funny looking small dog!" said the Golden retriever taken out for a walk, some eager couple must have taken him out. I could smell his horrible stench and his voice was obnoxious, waking me up from my beauty rest. 

"Goodbye, now! Miss you!" 

I turned to scratch against the cage to see Gary looking anxious.

"What's wrong Gary?"

"It's the seventh day" he said. "That's all they give you." 

"What do you mean?" 

"It's the seventh day for me, it's when they take you and you don't come back." 

"Don't come back from where?"

"God knows where, but it's not pretty, I'm sure. There's plenty ways to go around here, either one of those uniformed humans get you or ones without the uniform. It's the same conclusion every time. I'm sadly too fat to make a run for it, Smudge. But, you're not, if you ever get the chance, you know what to do." 

The time he had anticipated came quick, Gary cried, he put up a fight but two humans had a good grip on him. 

Before, they took him out to meet his maker, they pinched between his shoulder blades, probably to see if he had enough meat for their feast. They used some device against him and rubbed up and down his body until it made a beeping noise. The humans looked happy to torture it, smiling to each other and saying "We have a match!". They promised him to toss him in a toxic cold plunge before another human would take him. The horrors of it all motivated me further to escape. I couldn't meet this fate so young in my life, so I prepared to make a run for it. 

A few hours later, they attempted to clean my cage. 

And I ran, as far and fast as I could. After leaving the prison, I whizzed through these gigantic metal machines, dodging them quick before making it to a grassy park across the road. At night when it got dark, I was able to catch a mice for Dinner, and continued on in search for vermin. When all was well and done and my food source depleted, I found myself still hungry and I wandered again to an open garage to sleep. There I lived for a few days, but food was still scarce. I woke up in the middle of the night to that familiar sweet and savory smell of Fancy Feasts, Ocean Whitefish. It was the kind my servant Gabriel use to feed me every other day. 

I was hesitant coming out from the shadows of an attic, when the human came out to greet me. I thought for sure it would be a familiar face, but it sadly wasn't. It was an old man, he smiled and reached his hand out calmly presenting his palms with more treats. He seemed patient, and I thought he seemed trustworthy. The remainder of my life had been fortunately comfortable. My new servant had even introduced me to new friends, but they were young, too hyper, and obnoxious. 

When I still sleep at night I wonder about what ever happened to Gary, and all of those other humans from my past life, their memories still remain with me.