Tummy and Toes Tuesday

Oh, Daddy's chair is so comfy... *happy sigh.* My darling Mickeybear, come hither and snuggle in my floof, for I am dreaming of you, dearest! *purrrrrr*



Guess what... Mom wrote another short story, and this one is about MaoMao! It's a speculative tale about how MaoMao came to show up as a stray cat in the back yard last year. Here's an excerpt:

“C’mon, Bandit! Get it!” Mitchell cried.

The boy moved the drinking straw slowly over the carpet in his bedroom, and Bandit pounced on it, used his paws to flip it into his mouth, then he ran off down the hall and into the bathroom. Mitchell and Maggie laughed, and as they called him back, he heard them move a second straw across the carpet.

Oh boy, oh boy! Another straw. Bandit ran back into the bedroom and pounced on it. He loved playing with the kids. He was a kid himself. Well, a kitten. Five months old. Batting the straw in the air, he saw his Cat Momma curled on Mitchell’s bed. She smiled and twitched her whiskers as she watched him.

“Good job, son,” she said. “You’re a fine hunter.” Bandit knew she meant it. Though he had two brothers and a sister, he was her favorite. His brothers and sister didn’t live here anymore. They’d gone, as the Woman Person had said, to new homes.

The kids couldn’t understand much of what Momma Cat said. They didn’t speak Cat. They couldn’t understand much of what he, Bandit, said to them, either, even though he talked to them a lot, but some things they understood. They understood because they loved him. And he loved them. They were, all three, great buddies.

Mitchell and Maggie’s mother, the Woman Person, was a different flavor of kibble. Bandit didn’t hang around with her much. He preferred the kids, or his Cat Momma, who wrestled with him and still loved to groom him. His Cat Momma was gentle and sweet, unlike the Woman Person who was always getting mad about something. Bandit would be happy if the Woman Person didn’t live here at all, but he figured Mitchell and Maggie needed her, the way he’d needed his Cat Momma when he was little.

Kids seemed to grow up slower than kittens, Bandit thought.

The Woman Person was home today. She spent a lot of time out of the house, and the kids did, too. The Woman Person went to something called “work”; the kids went to something called “school.” But today was one of the days they were all home.

As Bandit flipped the second straw up into his mouth and bit it, he heard the Woman Person’s footsteps. Uh oh. He hoped she wouldn’t fuss at him. He decided he’d just keep playing. Playing was fun.

The Woman Person came in and sat down on Mitchell’s bed, next to Momma Cat. “I’ve got some bad news.”

Mitchell plucked the straw from Bandit’s paws as Maggie watched. “What?”

“We’ve got to get rid of Bandit.”

Go here to read the whole story: "Bandit."