[Ali]

Author: Ali

Genre: Children's book, vignette

Ranting: G

Status: Complete

Summary:

A story about a cat named Snow and its owner - Lily - get disturbing by a new member in a family

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Snow and the Summer

I was born on a snow day – so Lola called me Snow.

I’m three-years-old now, and I’m a cat. So, normally, I don’t do much. Most of my activities in a day are sleeping, walking and lying around.

But lately, my daily schedule has changed. We are about to have a new member in our family, as Mother told Lola on a very hot, hot summer day. And suddenly, there are some areas in the house where I’m not allowed to go any more. Some of my toys are cleaned away from my usual favorite spots. Summer becomes too hot and Mother gets sick. Her belly gets bigger and her attitude towards me gets grumpier.

After three years in this life, I deeply understand why snow can’t survive in summer, especially in those very hot, hot summer days. Not only am I taken away from my daily routine, I am ignored in my own house. I don’t get along with the summer sun.

It’s just the beginning of summer and the sun already burns like a fireball in the middle of a blue sky.

Lily, who now has a sister

Lily is a very nice and lovable little girl who brings treats and food every time she comes. She is one of my favorite people who visits the house. She pets my fur every time she comes.

Lily comes on a nice summer day. Lily pats my fur, “Hello, Snow”. But there’s no food. Did anyone eat it?

Lily hugs me and takes me upstairs to Lola’s room.

“What’s wrong?” Lola asks.

“It’s terrible,” Lily says and lies on the bed and hands me over to Lola.

“What’s terrible?” Lola puts me on her lap.

“The new baby. She came home last week,” Lily says as Lola opens her two round eyes wider. “My mom only cares about the baby. It’s always … Lily, watch your sister; Lily, can you please change her diaper for me… and, and even Log got kicked out of the house!” Lily raises her voice.

Wait, did the baby eat all the food that should be mine?

Oh, and Log! I haven’t seen him in two days and he was kicked out. My ears erect directly toward the ceiling. Even Log – the lovable dog in the house – was kicked out. What a terrible baby! Oh, is this the circumstance when I get to say it serves you right, Log?

“I can’t believe it.” Lola rolls her big eyes. “This’s a threat, right? We need to do something about it,” Lola says as she raises my feet up. “We won’t let anyone take our places, will we, Snow.”

“What will you do?” Lily asks.

Suddenly, silence takes over the pink room. There are no solutions or any ideas. Lola still holds my feet toward the open window and keeps holding them like that toward the blue, very blue sky.

Today is a nice, blue sky day.

The relationship between a dog, a cat and a bird

My neighborhood is an animal-loving neighborhood, which is a very good thing. It means I have many friends. Unfortunately, my first friend was a dog, and unfortunately, it has remained till now. I shame the face of cat kind by playing with a dog, in some way, I think.

“Unbelievable! Unacceptable!!”

“Quit it, Log!” I yell as I intend to stand up and use my claw.

“How on earth can a black cat be called Snow! Unacceptable!”

“!!!” I swear for the whole time I’ve been his friend, he always makes me mad every time we meet.

“Please, accept the truth, Snow.” He nods his head as he knows it all.

….

Another pet I know is a bird from next door. He’s a beautiful one with a pleasant voice, but, too arrogant. Every time I take a walk and pass by the front green door of the house, I see him again, with his colorful feathers comb neatly.

“Hey black cat.”

“Cats eat birds, you know?” I reply as always.

And the bird takes a step back, like always.

“Good bird.”

“You! Wait and see black cat!!!” The bird slams his wings into his white and beautiful, unlocked cage. Yes, an unlocked cage.

And like every other time, I throw back a contemptuous look to the colorful bird. Stupid bird, I have been waiting for three months, and you haven’t done thing. Still, I like to walk by this house every day.

Home alone

Lola and I have to stay to watch the house as Mother and Father are rushing outside now. It was a strange accident; Mother slipped in some kind of liquid that poured on the floor and Dad sang and yelled and ran like crazy around the house. They rushed outside. But,

Lola and I have to stay at home.

Lola calls Lily.

“They’re gone. Yes. They just went to the hospital.” Lola holds me with one of her arms. “Yes, the baby.” She puts me on her lap as she sits down on the sofa. “I hope she’ll be okay. Your mom is fine now, right?” Lola pets my fur and the conversation keeps going on and on till late, late in the moon-rising night.

She holds me so tight when she hangs up. The moon is round and enormous in the fall.

“Mom and the baby will be fine, Snow. They will. Dad’s there.”

She whispers to my ear and slowly falls asleep.

Log and his legendary moments

I don’t have many special moments in my life, but Log has a lot. He has so many extraordinary moments to make up for those I lost because of laziness. Some I witness myself. His idiocy leads to his legendary moments. Some rarely are told by Log himself. Some are told by the animals in the neighborhood. Most of the stories end with complaints or warnings. As his closest friend, I – the cat – endure the consequences of Log – the dog.

But lately, Log was kicked off his throne like he was kicked out of the house. Poor Log.

“I say, my dear friend, watch out. You have to learn how to take care of yourself when that creature enters your kingdom. It will come like a storm, I know, Snow.”

“It’s because you are too naughty to stay in the house”

“No, no I am not!” Log raises his voice “That baby overthrew me. And that is unacceptable!”

As always, I don’t know what to say after his declaration.

“Snow, dear, you should join me.”

“Join what?”

“Join the Anti-babies Force with me! To prevent an unhappy future for yourself.” Log puts one of his legs on my shoulder.

“You are too dramatic. You’re only kicked out for a few days, Log.”

“Oh, my friend, you will understand, one day when it comes.”

The blue room

The baby came home today. The house has a new room. It is a blue one. I like the new and fresh smell of the room. It makes me want to sleep. This blue room is my new favorite room in the house. The window is turned nicely to a direction that the sunlight only shines a bit of its hotness into the room. The floor is covered with blue little pillows. Fluffy white towers with words written all over them hang on the door. The room itself is a playground for me. Mother puts her soft, fluffy round balls with threads in the room too. She uses them to make little things for the baby, which I like to play with. I love the new blue room.

But, as my wise Log once said, and said again when his house’s baby came: “Life isn’t a dream.”

The blue room is one of the places I’m not allowed to go near.

Mother carries the baby into the room, and I have a chance to revisit my spot. I jump on the windowsill as they set the baby to sleep. They ignore my presence in the room, which is annoying and good in some way. This the first time I see the baby. The legendary baby that rumors say is a terrible creature.

But….

The baby, how can I say about the baby, the baby is so small. The smallest human I ever saw.

The baby is so pure. The most innocent thing I ever saw.

The baby is chubby. The softest creature I ever saw.

The baby, how can I say about the baby, his eyes are so big and clear. His eyes are like two early morning dews drops on a young, new leaf.

The baby, he is called Lupin.

The baby is a new member now. He is the smallest and most fragile member in the family, including me.

The baby, how can I say about the baby, he is smiling at me.

For the first time I think Log is wrong.

The new hair salon

Mother’s friend just opened a new hair salon. So, we are heading downtown. There is nothing fun in downtown, just a lot of birds in the center square. Despite all my rancor for the place, Lola takes me with her. She holds me tight in her arms, next to Lupin, next to the car’s window.

“Alright, ladies! Hop down, we’re here.” Mother stops the car and opens the door.

Lola is so excited. She jumps out of the car and squeezes her arms into my fur and skin so, so tight. I can’t understand what is exciting about a place with all kinds noise from all kinds of machines. Water fountains spill directly on your fur and strangers want to touch you. But, Lola is very, very excited. She runs toward the place, takes a look at everything, till she bumps into a lady.

“Come here, kitty, come here,” the lady wants to pick me up. Big mistake.

“Snow is not really friendly. Sorry.” That lady should thank God that Lola has picked me up first, otherwise there would be a scratch on her hand.

“She’s a grumpy cat if you don’t have any food.” Mother comes in with Lupin and smiles with the lady. They talk and laugh and Lola gets a haircut.

I sit on a tea table, next to the baby. We watch Lola together. There’s nothing to do since water is everywhere and noises come from every corner and mother talks to her friend.

I comb my fur with my tongue, which is a very, very efficient ways to take care of your fur. Well, I’m sure it is more efficient than torturing your fur with scissors or giant semicircle-shaped machines on top of your head or people playing around with your claws. But, Lola is having fun. I see she is joking with ladies around her and looking at herself in the mirror. She’s waving to me and the baby, showing her entire new and strange claw color.

As Log would say “Unbelievable!”

Well, at least she seemed to be happy with her new claws’ color.

“AAAAAAAAA.” Lola screams, I spoke too soon.

Lola’s new hair doesn’t look like anything we saw on her paper-collection. I stay with her long enough to understand this concept. I know she’s upset.

“It’s so ugly, mom!” Lola covers her forehead with her hand and covers her face with wrinkles between her eyebrows.

“Dear, it’s just… well, a little, little, tiny shorter than we planned. It’s ok.”

I find it’s ok to look at. In the reflection, the hair is only a little higher than Lola’s eyebrows. I find it cute and it fits perfectly with Lola.
I want to comfort her, but, I’m too lazy to move in this moment. Water and dirty dusty little hair are everywhere.

Suddenly, the little baby next to me says his first magic word.

He laughs and claps and points to his big sister.

Pretty! Pretty!

And the whole day is pretty again.

The lady who like cats but doesn’t want to have cats

Lucy is a middle-aged lady who owns a giant garden. I only know the word “middle age” because Log told me so. The special thing about Lucy is she lives alone, which means she has her whole own space without anyone disturbing her. It’s so amazing!

She likes cats. I know. I know who likes me at first sight. I like her too. Then I hate her when she pretends she doesn’t like me at all. She comes to the house with cat food but she always says it’s because her friend has surplus cat products.

Quote from Log: “Unacceptable!”

Lola says Lucy doesn’t look like any middle-aged, lonely lady. She doesn’t have cats. She’s not a cat lover. So, she can’t be a middle-aged lonely lady.

Quote from Log: “Unbelievable!”

Lola says the baby is not cute or adorable at all. He doesn’t have the pink cheeks nor a pink pair of feet. So, he can’t be the most adorable baby in the world.

Quote from Log: “Please, accept the truth!”

Then, in a starry night, I see Lola sneakily pat the baby’s pink little chubby cheeks. I see she smiles.

Girls with their confession club

Lola and Lily and the rest of their friends decide to open a book club. I miss a few beginning meetings of the club because I have a meeting with other cats in the neighborhood about others cats who violate our territory. However, Log didn’t miss any. He doesn’t tell me how it happened, maybe he doesn’t know either, the club’s main topic is not about books.

Well, I don’t see them bring any books over to the house. I know what a book is. A book is one of Log’s favorite chewing objects; he talks about it a lot.

The girls start to talk about their daily lives. And it becomes chaos. The little pink room now seems to be too small to contain this many people and their noises. I’m sure I will leave if Lola doesn’t hold me in her arms.

“Lola, how about your little brother? Is he naughty? Does he bother you a lot?” one girl asks.

“You mean like the little boy in the book?”

“Yah, is he crying a lot?”

“Well, not really. He’s okay, he doesn’t cry much.”

“Wow, so he’s better than my sister. She cries all the time. And you know, once, she cried so loud that the neighbors complained about it, and….” Lily takes over the conversation.

Lola blinks her round eyes, “Actually, my little brother is not that bad,” she says slowly, so slow and so clear that every girl has to look at her. “My brother has a very lovely smile. I think your sister has a beautiful smile too, Lily.” She speaks slowly as she pets my fur. “I think babies have the most beautiful smiles in the world.”

Merry Christmas to you all!! hohoho

[Cordelia Eleanor]

Thank you for all of your hard working . If I were you, I wouldn't be able to type these down, my imagination not as bloom as you. I have to say you did a great job . All of the story characters have their own personality even they're just animal and when I read it I was thinking ''hey, I never know pet can think like that !'' It's a great thing to know that you actually make to stay to read all of it 'cauze I'm not a patient person. But what I like most about your story is it remind me about another story i read two years ago. Of couse I bought that one but I haven't read it again since the day I finished it. The name of the book is ''The Story of A Seagull and The Cat Who Taught Her To Fly''by Luis Sepúlveda, maybe you know about it ? Same to your this main character is a black fat cat which find that the baby seagull kinna a-problem-to-handle. But it end up helping it . It's a cute story and so is your. Hope to see more of your works