“Did you have to bark so loudly at the kids down the block?” Mimosa asked Pepper. The dog was starting her patrol from the front door to the living room. Mimosa was stretched out on the loveseat watching the dog pace back and forth.
“They were in my range of vision and my Boy was getting on the school bus.” Pepper answered, stopping in front of the orange cat. “I needed to let them know not to go near him!”
“These kids were miles away from him!” Mimosa insisted. “You are way over-protective of him!”
The animals were settling in to their routines after their human family had left for either school or work. After Pepper paced from the front door, she hopped into the easy chair. Mimosa was about to begin his grooming regiment when he caught Pepper’s gaze at him.
“I am not over-protective! I am doing my job!” Pepper stated with a nod, then the nod turned into a head shake, flapping her ears. Then as quickly as she started, she abruptly stopped and let out a sneeze.
“Fine, fine, I just saying it’s not the Wild West! I don’t think he’ll be attacked by bandits when he’s going to the school bus!” Mimosa concluded, wiggling his back paws.
“He’s my Boy and I let it be known!” Pepper sniffed, sneezing again.
“No kidding! I’m sure everyone on the block knows he’s your Boy!” Stanley yawned, as he lounged in front of the sliding glass door going out to the backyard. “Even the bird on the lawn knows he’s your Boy!”
“Bird on our lawn?!” Pepper yelped, trotting over to where Stanley was laying. Stanley got up on his paws as quickly as he could at the sight of Pepper lumbering over. Pepper stuck her head through the slats of the blinds and saw the offensive bird.
“Hey, bird! Get out of our yard!” Pepper yelled. The bird with a long tail feather looked behind him. His marble-like eyes saw Pepper on her hind legs, front paws on the sliding door. Since the glass was protecting him, he shrugged his bluish-black wings and returned to chewing the blade of grass.
“Why won’t it listen to me?” Pepper lamented. “I need to go out there! I miss my Pack! One of them would let me out there!”
“Here we go again!” Mimosa sighed. “No sooner do they leave us alone, and Calamity Pepper starts whining she misses them!”
“Don’t you miss them, especially the Boy?” Pepper asked, landing with a thud on all four of her paws. “He’s always carrying you around! You’re so lucky! I wish he could carry me around!”
“Listen, sometimes it is nice not to have to walk,” Mimosa agreed, “but there are times I’m on my way to the water dish, and WOOSH! He picks me up and takes me in the opposite direction!”
“That’s why I’m glad I have these few pounds on me!” Stanley chuckled, as he rolled on his back on the floor in between Pepper and Mimosa. “It’s harder for the Boy to pick me up! But I must admit, the Boy is so much better than he was when he was a toddler!”
“What do you mean?” Pepper asked, leaving her post of the back door to go to Stanley’s side.
“Hey, that’s right! You’ve been here the longest!” Mimosa said, rising to his paws.
“Yes, and before me was Athena,” Stanley said, walking towards the end table. When he arrived at the corner of the table, he leapt up on its counter. There was a photograph of the departed cat and the Boy 5 years ago. Stanley tilted his head to the side as he looked at the picture.
Mimosa joined him on the counter and Pepper laid her head on the space in between them.
“Hubba Hubba! She was good looking!” Mimosa admired, and Stanley glared at him before swatting the orange cat’s head with his grey paw.
“Look at my Boy! He’s so tiny!” Pepper’s voice cracked with emotion. “And look how he’s holding onto Athena! Such a sweetheart!”
“Is it me, or does she look terrified?” Mimosa remarked. He looked closer at the picture. The Boy was holding her very close to him, their faces side by side. Athena’s eyes were wide and the camera captured her trying to release herself from his tight grip.
“Oh, you’re so right, she was terrified of the Boy,” Stanley answered.
“But why? He’s terrific!” Pepper countered. “He plays ball with me, he feeds me!”
“Well according to Athena our Boy was quite the little terror!” Stanley began. “Let me set the stage—Athena was never a lap cat. She had a certain dignified air about her.”
“She was stuck up!” Pepper offered, sticking her tongue out at the photo of the departed cat.
“No, she was very…aloof,” Stanley disagreed. “She wouldn’t dream of demeaning herself by playing with a fake mouse or balls of yarn. “
“Okay, she was a snob!” Pepper challenged.
“The dog’s got her number,” Mimosa agreed. “But hey, if that kind of chick was your thing, who am I to judge?”
“Anyway,” Stanley cleared his throat and continued, “When the family brought in the Boy, Athena never once did any of the horrible antics, like jumping into the crib with him. Instead, she became a distant observer to this new small bundle of a human. She pretty much kept her distance until he started to walk.”
“How could she keep her distance for so long?” Pepper wondered, tilting her head to one side.
“Well you’ve said yourself she lived on the refrigerator when you were a pup!” Mimosa answered. “And she wasn’t very friendly, the hot ones usually aren’t!
“Anyway,” Stanley tapped his paw impatiently on the table. “One day Athena decided to go check out the Boy. He was probably around 3 years old, Him and Mom were sitting on the couch. Athena carefully hopped up next to him. She told me she remembered her whiskers gently touch his tiny hands as she sniffed him and he petted her head. Mom praised Athena for being so good with the Boy.
“ All was going well until, for some reason, the Boy’s tiny hand got a hold of a bunch of her hair on her back. Athena actually braced herself by holding onto the couch cushion with her front paws. Suddenly, the Boy yanked a handful of hair off of her!”
“Ouch!” Mimosa cringed, feeling his own hair rise on the back of his neck.
“I don’t believe it!” Pepper fumed. “My Boy is kind and would never do anything like that!” Then she turned to face the photo. “Stop lying to us, Athena! Bad kitty!”
“She looked at Mom with an expression that said That really hurt!” Stanley sighed, shaking his head. “She quietly slinked away as Mom scolded the Boy. She never laid a claw on him. She was such a lady!”
“She knew if she hurt the Boy, the Big Guy would probably throw her out on the street!” Mimosa muttered, twitching his tail.
“That was a horrible story!” Pepper yelped. “Stanley, I won’t be able to get the image out of my mind for…”Her voice trailed off as she heard a slight tapping noise. She raised an ear and located the noise was coming from the sliding glass door. Pepper ran over to the back door and parting the blinds with her nose, she spied the bird tapping the glass with his beak.
“Oh no you didn’t!” Pepper snarled. “Leave our door alone! All right, buddy, it’s on!”
The two cats looked with tired eyes at Pepper as she began her tirade of barks. “Like I said before,” Mimosa said to Stanley, “Calamity Pepper rides again!”
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