Catboy - Eric Walters [34]
I had to fight the urge to give him a scratch behind his ears.
Before I knew what had happened, Hunter jumped, soared through the opening and landed six feet in front of me. A few of the rock chips scattered, and he scampered forward a dozen more steps and skidded to a stop.
He turned around and faced me. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn he was thinking about what he wanted to say to me, as if he was looking for the right words.
“No need for thanks,” I said. “Just keeping my word.”
He tilted his head to one side.
“And you don’t have to say goodbye,” I added. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Maybe I’ll even have some chicken.”
His ears perked at the word chicken, and I laughed.
“Go on, they’re waiting for you,” I said.
He turned and walked toward the other cats. He’d gone only a few steps when a flurry of fur surrounded him—it was Miss Mittens’s kittens! The four balls of fur practically bowled him off his feet! And right behind them was Miss Mittens. She came up to Hunter and the two of them touched faces—they kissed!
I wanted to call Dr. Reynolds over, but I didn’t. I couldn’t take my eyes off the cats. I didn’t know about any of the other cats in the colony, but these ones were definitely Hunter’s family.
He walked toward one of the wrecks, and more cats came out of cracks and crevices. There were at least a dozen, maybe more, in the clearing.
Then King appeared and charged toward Hunter!
King’s fur was all puffed out, and he was hissing and snarling. Hunter dodged out of the way. King spun around with lightning speed, swatting a paw at Hunter. Hunter leaped onto the roof of a car. I waited for King to follow him, but he didn’t. The two cats glared at each other. Neither moved. Hunter wasn’t going to run away, but King wasn’t going to jump up on the car either.
Maybe King couldn’t jump on the car. Hunter, in his cage, had seemed so big. But compared to King, he wasn’t. They were about the same height and length, but King was much bigger. And Hunter was still recovering from his injury. He couldn’t fight King. Not now.
“Go away, you…you pig!” I yelled. “If you want another meal from me, you’ll leave Hunter alone!”
King glared at me. A chill went up my spine. He really would eat me, if he were big enough to do it.
“I guess not everybody is happy to have him back,” Dr. Reynolds said as he and my mother appeared at my side.
“Happy? Sounds like somebody is giving the cats human-like qualities,” I said.
He laughed. “It does sound like that. I guess it’s that he doesn’t like having his competition back.” Dr. Reynolds paused. “Don’t worry. Hunter is smart enough to stay out of his way.”
“I hope so.”
“So do I. One operation per cat is about all I want to have to do. Let’s go so he can settle in.”
“Do you want us to leave you alone for a bit?” my mother asked. “You know, to say goodbye?”
“It’s not goodbye,” I said. “But thanks for offering.”
“No problem.”
They started off. Hunter and I locked eyes. He nodded his head ever so slightly, as if to say “See you later,” and I did the same.
Nineteen
“Excellent work, Taylor!” Mr. Spence said as he handed back my story.
“Thanks.” I looked at the mark. It was a level four, an A! “I really enjoyed writing it.”
“It shows. And I learned so much about feral cats I didn’t know,” he said.
“You said, ‘Write what you know,’ and I know about them.”
“You certainly do,” he agreed. “But just as impressive was the imagination you put into the story. Writing from the perspective of a cat was a great idea.”
“I’m not really a talking-animal sort of guy, but I wanted to try it. Besides, Hunter is more than a cat,” I explained.
“He’s the leader of the colony, right?”
“He’s sort of the co-leader of the colony,” I said. “Although cats don’t really think like that. That would be anthropomo-lo-sizing or something like that.”
Mr. Spence smiled. “I think you’re aiming for the word anthropomorphize.”
“Yeah, that’s it!”
“That’s the wonderful thing about writing. You can give animals, or things, human