07/08/2023
The Days of Our 9 Lives - Soap Opera for Cats
“Come here!” said momma cat to her two young kittens who were chasing butterflies in the yard. The sun’s long warming rays were peaking through the clouds and shone right on the two yellow kitties like a spotlight on a stage warming the furry little kitties. They rolled through the grass and leaped through the air chasing little white butterflies that hovered over the ground darting around as is they were there to simply entertain the kitties. Momma kitty smiled proud as a tear rolled down her face when socks went cross-eyed looking eye to eye with the butterfly that landed on his nose.
“Why momma why?” Said Toby as he swatted at the nose of his brother watching their white wing friend flutter high out of reach.
“5 more minutes mom...please” said Socks who’s purring caused the fall leaves to vibrate under his tiny little paws.
He and his brother slapped paws and rolled down the hill through the leaves like a ball of fur end over end, and when they came to a stop they were at their mother’s feet and one of her tears fell on the top of socks head.
The playing came to a halt.
“Momma what’s wrong?” Socks asked as he and Toby shook off the leaves and stared up to her eyes to see why she cried.
She knew it was time for them to find a family of their own because the 3 of them would never make it on the streets in the winter and she wanted to shield them from living a fearful life. She wanted them to find a home where the purring never ended and love kept them warm.
“Follow me we need to chat” she said and gave them a nudge towards the hole under the house where they lived.
Socks knew something was up, it didn’t feel like story time and momma never cried before.
She tried to be strong as she looked into the eyes of her two boys who sat patiently waiting with their tails tucked in.
“Look here boys” said momma. “I need to explain why I was crying today”she turned away just a moment as more tears began to well in her eyes. Choking them back she snuggled them a bit.
“Winter is coming and it’s going to be too cold to stay here”.
Socks and Toby listened intently for her to go on.
“Remember when I told you that each of you would have a family of your own one day?”
Toby and Socks nodded with good thoughts in their mind of the home full of love their mom described many times. Their little purrs hummed in delight as they listened on.
“ you two have made me proud and have grown up so fast” she put a paw on socks head looking him in the eyes. “You have so much love in your heart and your coat is silky smooth, you aren’t afraid of anything and you chatter so much that no one could ever feel alone when you are around.”
Socks knew it was true and he chattered out a sound in agreement with her and Toby smirked a growl at him in play.
“Socks you are special and have a mission to find your person who needs you.” She looked him deep in his eyes “ you see, this person you are destined to be with loves you now and is already looking for you” Toby looked at Socks. “How so momma?” He asked.
“Well” she said “your person has a whole in their heart from missing kitties before you. She also has had other losses which left her lonely”. The two kitties listened intently and relaxed into a story time mode and curled their paws underneath them and blinked their little eyes as she continued on.
“Socks, your person goes to the transfer station every day and is waiting for you to arrive.”
“Mom what’s a transfer station?” Socks asked
“It’s a place where you go to find your person, a safe meeting place” she said as she described the big store that rescued animals.
“What about me momma, do I have a person too?” Toby asked
“Yes Toby you do, a special little boy who broke his leg is waiting for you to help him want to walk again and once he does you two have a lot of mischief to get in together. Sock’s mission starts first but you will accompany him to the transfer station.
Socks looked back at Momma with a little tear of his own in his eyes.
“Momma?” He said in a crackly voice, “what about you, will we see you again?”
“Socks I’ll always be in your heart and when you guys look out the window at night from your warm snuggly home and see the moon just know our eyes will be meeting at the same time when our glances reach the moon. You will feel the warmth and know it’s me and I’ll surely feel the rumble of your loving happy purrs.” She smiled and continued “remember as bad as you want to capture those birdies they are your friends and you can send a message to me when the bright red ones come near, That’s how we will keep in touch. Just chatter out the window when you see him, they are called cardinals and they come around to alert you someone you love is thinking of you, so we can send each other messages and keep in touch.”
“Mom” said Toby in a sleepy little voice “is that why you always sit and chatter at that red bird when you see him?”
“Yes Toby that’s me sending my love to my sister and brothers out there”
“What will you do without us momma?” Toby asked
“I have to make friends with a person of my own. You see the lady who sets out food for us everyday has lost her husband and is sad and getting older, she needs an old cat like me to snuggle and keep her company. It’s a job only someone like me can do because she isn’t as sure footed like she used to be and I’m kinda just the right speed for her. I’ll actually be very happy and feel needed and loved. “ she laid down, “Rest assured that big window is where I’ll look to the moon for you guys every night. “
Toby and Socks felt sad but trusted their momma. They knew this might be their last story time with mom so they squeezed in extra tight and momma’s purring got louder and she wrapped herself around her two sweet babies to shield them from the wind and they all drifted off to sleep to dream of their lives to come.
Morning came too soon for two tired yawning kittens who could feel the colder air setting in. After big yawns and stretches they looked around for their Momma “ where is momma?” asked socks. “I don’t know” Toby said while peeking out of the hole under the house.
Momma knew it was time to get the kitties to the rescue transfer station so they would safe from the cold winter coming. It had been windy enough to blow trash cans over during the night so there was plenty of food for everyone today. Most importantly momma located the perfect place to get the kittens found and taken to the rescue. One day a long time ago when momma was a young kitty a woman who worked at the rescue tried to capture her to bring her in to the store but she could never catch her so she let her be. Every once in a while they would see each other in passing. The lady was very nice and momma knew she just wanted to help.
While momma was chasing food in the wind she ended up in the yard of this nice lady and found a box had come to rest on her porch. Momma dragged towels she had found and put them in the box to ready it for the kittens. This would be perfect because the lady would find them and take them in.
Momma went back to get the boys and brought them the best last meal they would enjoy together.
“Boys” she said, “look what I have “tuna fish”
“Yum!!!” They licked their lips and ran out to greet their mom and chow down on the tuna filet mom scored for breakfast.
Once they finished eating momma informed them about the lady and the box.
“Boys it’s time to take the next step to find your new homes”
Toby and Sock’s hearts sank as they looked at their momma who had never sounded so serious.
“Follow me” she said and they began a slow sad walk behind their mom down the sidewalk.
“Remember what we discussed, you send messages through the red birds and look to the moon every night to feel close to each other. Another important thing is to love your people dearly and stay out of trouble.” The boys nodded and walked with their tails down.
“STOP IT” yelled momma startling then boys.
“Stop what ?” Said Toby,
“Hold those heads up and stick that tail up high, it shows you have pride,compassion and confidence in yourself and you look strong and bold like that.”
When they arrived at the house with the box on the porch they knew their life was going to change and they would go on to change the lives of others forever.
The kitties didn’t have to wait long and momma kitty watched from afar. The lady, Miss Rachel came out to pick up her trash cans that blown over during the night and saw the wonderful kittens looking up at her with bright beautiful eyes. She gasped at her discovery and forgot all about the trash cans. She bent down to get eye level with the cuties and reached out to pet the lovely little babies and swiftly picked up the box and took it inside so they would not be in the storm that loomed nearby. Momma kitty ran closer and stood on her hind legs and gave one final wink to the kitties as the peered over the side of the box almost jumping out as they realized they would never see mom again and tears fell from momma kitties eyes as she made her way towards Miss Darla’s house to see if she would notice her and let her in during the storm and that would be how their friendship would start.
For several days miss Rachel treated the kitties to a wonderful stay with lots of yummy milk and kitty bitties fit for a king. Miss Rachel kept looking outside the window for any sight of where the momma cat was. When Monday came she would take the kittens to the transfer station. She already knew that socks would be the perfect fit for the girl who had suffered some recent losses and needed a companion to ease the pain and loneliness of being the only girl in a big house full of love with no one to give it to. Socks had the perfect personality to lighten her life.
July 8th continuation:
Toby and Socks thought Miss Rachel was the best but Toby had ants in his pants thinking about meeting the boy who needed him to get over his lonesomeness after breaking his leg. Jacob would soon be his whole new world. To catch you up about Jacob: he had a terrible fall on the school playground. A big bully pushed him off the tall bright blue rocket slide. Brody’s laugh echoed in Jacob’s mind as he taunted him for crying when he got hurt. He fell backwards in such a way he twisted, and landed just right breaking his leg. In spite of the fall what hurt the most was his broken loving heart as he lay there whimpering trying not to cry. The bully made eye contact and let out a roaring belly laugh and pointed at him as he laid there bruised and broken huddled up on the ground. Since this day Jacob lost all confidence in others and Brody made him feel small and hurt.
Jacob wanted to be a best buddy to someone and he was disappointed because Brody the bully kid was always picking on him for being scrawny and fearful on the playground. After being hurt Jacob never even wanted to see another playground because in every image in his head there was always a zombie bully around every corner. After being afraid of Brody for so long, these thoughts started creeping into his brilliant young developing mind. He pictured a brave big Snarly lion rearing back his head and challenging mean Brody and making him feel little and picked on like Jacob did, but it was just a dream seeing Brody backed into a corner with a big mean cat/lion ready to eat him for lunch. All in the same thought in the imaginary bubble comments above his head as he looked up at the ceiling Jacob knew it was wrong to have these somewhat hateful thoughts about someone.
Meanwhile back at the house Toby and Socks would soon be at their temporary destination because after loading everything up miss Rachel clapped her hands together brushing off what seemed to be invisible dust and looked over at the cargo smiled and got in the drivers seat and then headed headed to the transfer station. Oh and yeah Socks was anxious too to meet his person but as always Toby was wound up a little tighter about everything and his spring was bouncing this morning like tigger trick or treating and all sugared up on candy. Socks often felt like the 4th of July was going off and rockets were soaring all around the way Toby acted. He had the zoomies all the time and even twitched like he was running after crickets in his sleep. Socks sometimes needed to hide in the tall grass fighting off ants crawling past his toes just to get some rest. Socks loved Toby in spite of all the action going on in his what he called his tiny little brain.
Nearing the transfer station Toby clawed at the side of the crate trying to peek through the cage wire to see if the store where he would begin his magical journey was in sight yet. Socks lay contently in his cage with his feet tucked under his chest and enjoyed a peaceful nap without Toby in his eyesight bouncing around. He knew he was in the crate next to him and he was safe during the drive to town, knowing that, Socks could close his eyes a few minutes and maybe even drift off to dream about his person.
July 9th
Finally they made it to the store and Miss Rachel sat the crates side by side near the entrance. She left them there for a moment while she went to announce their arrival. Toby was excited to get there and much to Sock’s surprise he had a solemn look and for once he sat still, “what’s up Toby?” Socks said “why are you so quiet?” Toby answered that he was having a moment and was missing their mom. It was at that minute when Socks seemed more excited than any other time. He perked up trying to get Toby to look in his direction, “Toby! Toby! Look a cardinal, he is trying to tell us something” A bright chipper cardinal was bouncing on the ground in circles and flying to the trees and back while whistling and singing a happy song. “Chirp, chirp, toodles, a tooty ta, a tooty ta, a tooty ta ta” Once the pretty little bird determined he had the kitties attention he chirped and sang out proudly a message from their mom. “Kitties, today is yours make it a good one, you have everything all lined up for an important happy life, you made it to the place we talked about. Soon you will be snuggled in front of a warm fire and you both have a surprise coming, one I prayed for once you find out the surprise send me a message letting me know all is well. Love you to the moon and back”. The kitties were so happy knowing they made momma proud and they would begin their day on a good note just because they were at the right place at the right time. Speaking of Toby saw a car pull up and a young boy on crutches was getting out of the car reluctantly, his grandma coaxed him saying she knew today was his special day, he would find that special friend he was looking for. The boy had to pass by the crates to get in and when he saw Toby, his frown turned upside down and he almost fell on the sidewalk. Toby was desperate, he stuck out his paw to snag the boys sleeve because Jacob was his person.
