there once was a cat named elliot. he was rather pudgy, but still had the stealth his kin was known for. faint, light grey stripes covered his all together short, dark grey fur. beams of light always caught themselves in his amber colored eyes. it made him all the more seductive of a feline. he had what he thought to be dashing good looks that any other cat would honestly kill for. he showed off his attractiveness in his strut, swinging his hips from left to right, tail held high and proud. the white fur socks on his paws made him look inches taller than the rest of the neighborhood cats.
“i’m not a cat,” elliot would think to himself. “i am a sexy beast“.
he made sure to never look unkempt. not bad for a cat without a home. nay, he was too much cat for any one household. the whole neighborhood was his! the streets, his back yard. the houses, his bedrooms. the tenants, his servants.
elliot was the luckest neighborhood cat to step foot on Loma Lane.
he had grown up in the neighborhood and knew it like the back of his paw. years of darting in and around rosebushes, bikes in the driveway, and across the small street of Loma Lane paid off. pathways were etched in elliot’s mind. he maximized his battleplan to position himself for optimal handouts and yummy giveaways. he knew where to be at what time each and every day. sometimes new cats to the neighborhood would tag along on elliot’s daily routes to get an idea of the friendliest people with the better food. but they just couldn’t keep up with him. elliot’s pudgyness was not to be mistaken for idleness, it was pure ingenuity.
in the morning he’d wake up from whatever spot he saw fit the night before. this always depended on dinner from the previous night. if one family left fish out on the back porch and the other only left milk, naturally elliot would favor seafood over dairy for his nighttime fare. around noon, he’d sneak over to the house with the plastic flamingos in the front yard, being careful not to wake up Ginger the dog. he didn’t like dogs.
he liked visiting the plastic flamingo house. the kind lady inside smiled from her living room window whenever she saw elliot snake his way toward her doorstep. she’d part the lace curtains to open the window slightly and make kissing sounds to coax elliot over. she didn’t need to, but elliot liked the sound. she would scurry to the kitchen, out of view from the window, and emerge with a delicious treat. she didn’t have any cats of her own, yet somehow managed to have cat treats on hand. elliot liked that. it made him feel special.
post lunch elliot would take a cat nap. there wasn’t much more to it than that.
after his nap, elliot would walk around and enjoy the scenery. Loma Lane was a pretty street. there was one house with a huge lemon tree in the back yard in front of the kitchen window. elliot knew this as the mouse house. the base of the tree hid a tiny hole in the side of the house. if elliot timed himself correctly, he would be able to catch mice that frequented the house. elliot didn’t think the man who lived inside had found the hole yet, because elliot would hear the man’s wife scream and hop on a chair. he didn’t want to tell the man any time soon. he liked mice.
sometimes for dinner, he would visit the apartment complex and try his luck. he was too proud to beg and never did. after all, he was no dog. instead, elliot used his charm and his seductive walk. he’d slink his way past the doorsteps and in no time, people came out and with treats in hand. sometimes he’d even get to cozy up to folks for pats and praise. they reminded him of how good looking he was and of how friendly a cat he was. nothing new, but it never hurt to hear.
one day, after a mid-mid-mid day cat nap, elliot decided to go visit the house with the pink flamingos. the lady gave out new yummy treats the week before and elliot wanted more. he got up from his spot, stretched, licked himself to clean up before walking over to the pink flamingo house.
elliot arrived to the pink flamingo house and for some reason, there were no more pink flamingos in the front lawn to greet him. no Ginger in the yard to avoid. no lace curtains in the living room window. elliot sat down on the front lawn. the lady who lived inside walked out the front door with a box in her arms and loaded it into the minivan parked in the driveway. she did this a few times before she finally loaded the last box into the van. another car pulled up. a tall man got out and walked up to the lady. she solemnly walked toward him with keys to the house in her hand. her eyes were red.
“i dropped the kids off at your sister’s,” the man said to the lady.
“and Ginger?” the lady asked.
“we went to the pound before i dropped them off. they really took that one hard.”
the lady choked on her tears a little.
“honey, you know we can’t keep her. please, try not to cry.”
“i know, i know… i can’t help it.”
“we gotta be strong. did you get everything already?”
the lady pointed toward the van. “yeah, the last of it’s in there.”
the man hugged her. they stood silently for a while, embrassing each other in front of the house. she let go of him to wipe the tears from her eyes, which were a deeper red now that she cried a little more. she took a look at the house. her eyes were big, as if she wanted her eyes to swallow in the scenery. she turned around to look at the front yard. elliot caught her attention.
“look, hun. it’s that sweet cat.” she sniffled a little and squatted down. she made kissing sounds to coax elliot over and patted her hands together softly. elliot sat up, stetched and walked over to her. he sat down at her feet, tilting his head to listen to her better. the lady petted elliot’s head as she spoke.
“hey there, kitty. i guess this is see ya later. you don’t have to worry about Ginger getting you anymore, we had to take her to the pound. can’t afford to keep her. you know, i was actually hoping to see you before we left.” she reached into her pocket and took out a treat. “here ya go, fella.” she petted elliot one last time before she got up.
“okay,” she said. “i’m ready.”
the two people looked at the house again, locked the door, embraced each other, and got into their cars. he left first as she slowly pulled out of the driveway. she stalled a bit to take a look at the wooden sign posted in her front yard. it swung back and forth from the breeze that passed by, squeaking just slightly. elliot couldn’t read, but he’d seen the sign before. it was popping up a lot around the neighborhood, especially within the past year. more and more families had left the neighborhood and they never looked happy doing so. some of the grass in the front yards with the big, white, swinging sign had already turned yellow and the people who lived there weren’t there anymore.
but elliot thought nothing of it and continued munching on the treat the lady gave him as she drove off.
after all, he was just a cat.
