A day inside

a tale from the perspective of a house cat

It’s been too long. They did say it would only be an hour, whatever that means. What’s an hour? Did they leave enough food out? Let me check. Yes. I’m hungry I’ll have a little now. Oh, it’s all gone now. I’m thirsty. That’s better. What was I doing? Oh, waiting for them to come back. I want my back scratched, that place right in the middle that I can’t quite reach, but wait let me rub against this chair leg, no that’s not right, let’s try this rug, almost got it, YES, that’s the spot- A BIRD. It’s outside, teasing me. Sure, you get to be outside, and I’m stuck in here, but you don’t get free food and your head scratched whenever you want. One day I’ll catch a bird, I’ll climb a tree and catch it with my paws and then we’ll see who’s laughing. I’m sleepy now, might as well take a nap until they come back, haven’t got anything else to do. Oh, what’s this? It’s soft, and a bit smelly, but the good smell, smells like them, I think this is their fur, the fur that they take off when it’s hot and then put away. Might be a good place for a nap. They won’t care. Knead, knead, knead. That’s better. I might stay here until they come back, let me just close my eyes. My claws are stuck in this fur, I’ll just pull- oh it’s coming apart, hey this is fun. I’ll pull some more, it’s getting longer! This is fun. Where did the fur go? It’s gotten smaller. This pile of string is soft, and smells like the fur, and it moves! What’s that? The door! They’re back, I can hear the click, that’s them alright. They better have food for me. I’ll leave this pile of string here; they can clean it up. They’re back! I don’t see any food. Why are they shouting? What are they pointing at? Oh, the fur. Hang on why are they pointing at me. Don’t pick me up! No, I want food! Not your big litter box! It’s boring in here! Look at that water. Where is it coming from? Oh, it’s gone. Now it’s back. And gone again. Back. Gone. Back. Gone.