Bud

There once was a cat. I named him Bud. He enjoyed perching upon my grandmother's front porch.

I enjoyed yelling "Get off that porch, you dirty, fat cat!!".

He did not enjoy wobbling hurriedly down the steps and through the yard. He also did not enjoy leaping over the tall fence to escape my wrath.

As he hauled himself over that fence, fear obviously filled his poor little heart. Oh well.

But, I did feel a small sting of pity in my poor little heart as I gazed at his scruffy old body scurrying down the sidewalk.

So I stopped. And he stopped. And he turned around. And we stared at each other for along time.

And up from his poor little throat erupted a soft "Mew..."

That mew might have been meaningless and unimportant to any ordinary human, but, as you might have realised, I'm not exactly an ordinary human.

To me, that mew was his way of saying "Oh, I'm just a poor little homeless stray cat with no home, no family, no one to love and care for me. Oh, how I wish that someone would be kind enough to rub my poor little belly, to feed me some nice cat food, so I could be loved for ONCE in my short, miserable life."

And he kept mewing. And I kept staring at him. And he rolled over so I could pet him. And I kept staring at him as I slowly walked closer.

And he sneezed. And I didn't pet him or feed him or bring him home.

I just slowly shuffled away with a heavy heart of lead.


Later I came back. He had moved into the middle of the street, as if waiting for a pickup truck to drive over him to end his sadness. Once again I walked away.

A while later, I returned. I was thinking of Bud and was about to go see him, when I saw a pickup truck drive by. Oooh that was bad.

I hurried to the spot where he had been sitting, half expecting to see his poor little body lying limp on the side of the road. I was relieved when I noticed him on the side of the road, but not lifeless. He was headed into the woods, stepping through the ice.

He turned back and stared at me. I returned the favor.

Then he looked away, and again began walking into the woods.

And I left him there. I haven't seen poor Bud since, but I have not forgotten him. Of course, this all happened just earlier today.





~Nixx