Christmas Tree Cat - A Short Story

Her people had put her outside the door. She was so excited! There were so many things to see, smell and do she didn't know where to start! She was aware that there was a lot of activity around her home, with all the people coming in and out, but she had too many things to explore to take much notice. She had stood at the window many times looking out and now she was here!
She chased a few squirrels, played in the leaves and even tried climbing a tree for the first time. Just when she was beginning to think she didn't ever want to go inside again, she heard a loud growl and turned around. There was a large brown thing coming at her! She hissed and took off running with the brown thing right behind her. It was almost on top of her when she came to a tree and used her new found tree climbing skills to escape. Whew! That was close!
The big brown growler stood at the bottom of the tree for a long time, but it finally got tired and left. She stayed in the tree until she was sure it wasn't coming back and then climbed down to the ground. Just when she got to the ground, she heard another loud noise. This one was louder and coming faster than the last. It was huge and spewed smelly fumes.
It narrowly missed her as she ran across the street. She was scared and wanted to go home. Outside wasn't fun after all. There were too many bad things outside. She went to the door where her people lived but everything was quiet and still. She cried pitifully but no one came to the door to let her in.
It was getting dark and still no one came. She could see lights coming from all the other windows but there were no lights in her own home. She was hungry and cold and wanted her nice warm blanket! She hid under the stairs and shivered until morning.
For the next few weeks, each day was a frightening struggle to survive. There were some kind people who would leave food out but she was too small to fight the big cats, who took all the food. Then there were the big growlers who chased her up trees. One almost caught her and left a cut on her little paw. She hid under the stairs and licked her wound wondering why her people had left her. Had she been bad?
One day the weather turned especially cold. She decided to go to all the doors in the building and cry as loudly as she could -- no one came.
Finally, at the top of the stairs, a door opened. It was a woman who bent over to pet her. She stood on her back paws and rubbed her little head against the woman's face. The woman went inside and came back with a bowl of food and a warm blanket. She was so grateful! While she ate the food, the woman stroked her little head. When she was finished eating, she snuggled in the blanket until she was warm and went to sleep.
Everyday, for the next week, she came to the woman's door and waited for her food. Everyday the woman came outside and brought her a bowl and petted her while she ate. Finally, one day the woman picked her up and brought her inside. She was so happy. It was warm and cozy and she rubbed the woman's ankles purring. If only the woman would let her stay she would never go outside again!
She began to explore this new place. In one room she found a tree. It wasn't like the trees outside -- this one was smaller with low branches and shining things all over it. It had shining boxes all around it too. She walked around the tree sniffing. The woman wasn't in the room and she wondered if she would get in trouble if she climbed this tree. Her curiosity got the better of her and she started up the trunk. She went out on an upper branch and sat there feeling very pleased with herself.
The woman came back in the room and started calling her. Would the woman get mad at her for climbing the tree and make her leave? She got scared. Just then, one of the shiny balls fell off the branch she was on and hit the floor with a crash. The woman looked up and was face to face with her in the tree. She just sat there and purred to let the woman know she was sorry. She was so afraid of being put outside. She let out one tiny little meow and the woman, who had been staring at her with her mouth open, started to laugh! The woman reached out and took her off the limb. She snuggled in the woman's arms as the woman stroked her smooth little head.
"Merry Christmas little one!" the woman said. She blinked her big yellow eyes and purred.
by Ann Hudson