Sinead’s Story: Part IV

Hey! In the last mailbag, blog reader Hailey requested more of “Sinead’s story” — and now we’ve got it!

For those who don’t know, Sinead wrote the very first story to appear on the blog, and has been sending us new parts as they come together. (Here are parts one, two, and three.)

On with the show! Er… story!

Rejected (excerpt)

This time I didn’t sleep. I was wide awake, waiting for the outcome of the argument that continued from the front doorway.

After several minutes, they finally stopped arguing and the old female came and sat on the couch I was lying under. She started making friendly clicking noises. I slowly inched my way out from under the couch and looked up at her. She was patting the couch beside her.

I looked up at her in confusion, not knowing what she wanted me to do. Surely not get up on the couch? It was a very old couch, and in my opinion, a very ugly couch, but still, get on it? It didn’t make sense. Yet she kept patting the couch, and I thought she was nicer than my other family, so I warily jumped up beside her.

“Aww, good dog!” she said, stroking my back. I suddenly felt comfortable, and lied down. Eventually, she fell asleep. I sat there, my head on her lap.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the doorway, and it caught me off guard. I jumped. The sound was a long, drawn out “mirr-ow.” I had never heard something so odd, so calming and yet so shockingly irritating.

I scanned the room, looking for the maker of the odd sound. Instead, it found me. Suddenly something fuzzy and white was beside me. The long furs tickled my nose, and I sneezed. The fuzz-ball jumped. A regal, self-important voice came from the middle of it.

“What, dare I ask, are you?” it said disdainfully, and I immediately disliked it.

“I could ask the same thing,” I replied in a small voice.

The ball gave a disbelieving little laugh. It sounded self-centered and rather annoying. Slowly it unfurled, and I realized it was a living creature. It was mostly white with black around the paws, face, tail, and ears. Its ears were sharply pointed and its nose was dainty and small.

“I, of course, am a cat. A Siamese, actually. The best sort of cat. Now, what are you?”

“I’m a dog. Just a dog.”

The cat snorted.

“I should have known. Not a very big dog. You’re ugly, too. Are those ears on your head? Ugh. I am a purebred. You are a disgusting mutt. Why are you here?”

I bristled. It wasn’t a very warm welcome.

“I was just outside and this female here took me in. What are you doing here?”

The cat laughed.

“I? I live here. Unlike you, I was a very expensive gift to this old woman. Sure, she’s dumb and slow, but what else can you expect from a human?”

I gasped.

“How could you say that about your master?”

“My master? Ha! Even if you are small and ugly, you can be funny. For your information, cats don’t have masters. Just feeders, and entertainers. Watch this…

The cat jumped onto the old woman’s lap, jerking her awake.

“Oh, hello Mika,” she cooed. “Do you want to play?”

The cat gave her chin a head-butt and started to make a rolling sound deep in his throat, nuzzling up against her. I was shocked that this creature that had been so mean to me could be so affectionate.

“Yes, you want to play. Don’t you, Mika?”

The old woman took a silver cylinder from her pocket and pressed a button on the side. A shiny red dot appeared on the wall. The cat, Mika, leaped to the ground and started to paw at it desperately, his normally narrow pupils round and huge, taking up most if his yellow eyes.

I cocked my head and looked at the red dot, unsure what to think of it. I jumped off the couch and stared at the dot. I looked back at the female, and saw a red light coming out of the cylinder. Looking back at the wall, I realized that the dot was just a light, coming from the metal tube.

I lay down on the floor, unconcerned, and watched Mika jumping up walls, running around, and generally making a fool of himself. I sighed, wondering if he knew it was a light, or if he just didn’t care what it was, just that it was moving. When the old woman got bored, she turned off the light and turned on a glowing box. The cat, panting and looking around desperately, skidded to a stop just in front of me.

“Where is it?” he gasped. “Where’d it go?”

“She turned it off,” I said plainly.

“What? What are you talking about, she turned it off?”

“It’s just a light, you know,” I explained. He sat down, and started to lick his paws, biting in between his toes.

“You just don’t understand,” he said in between licks. “But what can you expect from a dog? Now If you excuse me, I have to use the litter box.”

As the cat stalked away, I wondered if he would ever start being nicer. I doubted it.

And that’s it for this part of the story, guys! Hope you liked it — I know I did.

Many thanks again to Sinead!

Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com