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Cattails are Made for Swatting:

  The Mysterious Shiny

  By Gilbert Peppers

  Copyright 2011 Gilbert Peppers

  Other Cattails are Made for Swatting stories:

  The Mysterious Shiny

  The Great Outdoors

  Clan Stories

  Cattails are Made for Swatting

  The Mysterious Shiny

  “You’re going to put out your eye running around like that.” Spot said.

  “I’ww be hyne.” Girl replied.

  She kept her precious prize clamped firmly in her mouth as she darted across the floor. Her feline dexterity and furry padded paws handled the slick tiles easily. She could keep traction on wet ice if the need arose. The prize dangled beneath her as she raced between two chair legs. Its shiny metal surface reflected the overhead light in all directions creating specs of light that danced all around her.

  Girl kept running despite the warning. Spot looked down from her perch high atop the fridge. She had seen it all before, done it before, and experienced the terrible sensation of skidding out of control across the slick surface. Today she lounged. Her lithe body needed rest after a banquet of tuna and chicken. Six years of experience taught her to take all things equally. She could exercise in the morning… if she felt like it.

  The master was out today. He probably left on one of his many trips to the book place. All Girl knew of these trips was that he only took the books with him when he went out during the week. Other times when he left, he always came back with food. Food was good. These trips, the book trips that is, often lasted until dark. That meant she had the entire day to occupy.

  Girl often spent the days exploring. Unfortunately, nothing remained inside the house to explore. The master closed all the doors to their room while he was away. She only knew of five rooms to explore and two of those stayed closed. The slick room was where she played most often. It had the slick floor and the obstacle course that Spot called a table and chairs. Multiple levels allowed her to climb hide among the tiny rooms built under the middle level. Spot monopolized the high perch. Other rooms in the house included the nap room with the fuzzy floor and many shiny things to knock down. The nap room opened on random days whenever the master was home. Their litter box occupied the empty room filled with serene blue walls. She hated the bad room most of all. It held the tub of wet baths where the master ritualistically soaked Girl and covered her with foul tasting powders. Then there was the master’s private room.

  Spot and Girl entered the master’s room at night when he came home and rested. They slept on the comfy spot alongside him. Many hidden areas to discover called for crawling and climbing behind furniture or on top of things. Girl loved the buzzing box most of all. The buzzing box showed strange images of things that looked like the master but she liked to climbing on top of it and let the tingling static fluff up her tail.

  However, the master was not home today. Girl had to find something else to do. She found the shiny lying in the bad room’s floor. It just lay there, discarded by the master. He sometimes left little noisy balls in the floor for her to play with but they were not shiny! After carefully taking the shiny with her mouth, she hunted for a safe place to play.

  “He’s going to be mad at you if you break that,” Spot said in her condescending voice.

  “It’sh mihn. I fowd it,” Girl explained.

  “Do not speak with your mouth full.”

  Girl spat out the shiny for a moment.

  “I said it’s mine. I found it!”

  She swatted the shiny with one of her paws. It jingled as it skidded across the slick floor. It moved! She darted after it and caught up easily. The shiny had three separate pieces to it. One was a large black piece she could leave marks on with her teeth. There was a convenient circle for holding the shiny in her mouth. Last was the long shiny that reflected the light in ways that made her smile.

  Girl lay on the floor and eyed the shiny at its level. She stretched her neck out and sniffed it quietly. It smelled like the master. She stretched her front paw out and pushed the shiny gently. It moved a little. She stood up and looked down at the shiny. She tried looking at it sideways, then walked around it and looked at the shiny from all sides. This thing had to do something. There were circles on the soft spot with some markings she could not understand. Girl shoved the shiny again. It spun in circles as it slid away.

  Her striped body pressed against the cool floor. Patterns of black and brown lines ran across her sides and down her back. She tensed her muscles, ready to pounce, her ringed tail switching back and forth. Her back legs released like a coiled spring sending her surging forward through the air just the right amount. Landing hard just in front of the shiny, her front paws claimed the ground on either side of it. Sadly, it did not yell or run away.

  The shiny mocked her.

  Then the worst happened. Her back paws slid forward and pushed her front paws out of position. She spun sideways and rolled across the slick floor. Girl could not believe it. She was out of control! Fortunately, the room was small and the small doors all around her ensured she would only slide a short distance. After bouncing off one of them harder than she would have liked, she turned and faced her prey again.

  “Told you not to run like that in here,” Spot said without lifting her head from her curled position atop the fridge.

  “It’s stronger than it looks!” Girl insisted. “And now, little shiny, I find out what’s inside you.”

  Girl pounced again. This time she controlled her slide. She landed exactly where she planned to with exactly the posture she mastered as a kitten. The shiny did not move. It was completely unafraid of her. How dare it?

  Disgusted, Girl swatted the shiny hard. It skidded across the slick room and bounced against one of the little doors. One of the markings on it caught her eye. It was different from the others, being bright red. First, she sniffed it to make sure it was dead after her vicious swat. Then she put her paw over the red mark. Yup, it disappeared under her paw. She pulled her paw back and saw it return. She wondered what would happen if she squashed it?

  A noise louder than anything she ever heard erupted beyond the big door. It blared again and again in a cacophonous uproar. Honk! Honk! Honk! Her ears threatened to burst. Spot was so startled that she flipped over in place trying to rise but instead slid off the fridge. She landed with a thud near the shiny and darted for the first dark spot she saw. Girl followed her quickly.

  “What is that?” Spot yelled.

  “I didn’t do it!” Girl was quick to announce.

  “That usually means it was your fault!” Spot stated.

  They yelled to hear each other over the noise. It echoed all around them, pounding on their skulls. Girl regretted ever seeing the shiny. The door to the slick room opened in a rush and a gust of fresh outside air came flowing in.

  “What in the world…?” It was the master’s voice.

  Girl was too scared to open her eyes but Spot poked her head out from behind the cabinet door where they hid. He looked annoyed. He had the same face anytime Girl broke something. ‘Why did he let her stay here?’ Spot wondered.

  “How did these get here?” He asked.

  The master picked up the shiny and squeezed it hard enough to make the noise quit. Spot did not know how he knew that it was the source of the noise, but she was grateful he was so smart. She rushed out from the cabinet and rubbed up against his legs. He liked it when she did that.

  “Did you do that, silly kitty?” He asked her.

  Oh no! He thought it was her! She meowed in protest. He patted her head gently to reassure her he wa
s not angry and glanced around the room.

  “Where’s Girl?”

  The guilty kitten glanced out from the crack in the door. She first looked at Spot to see if she was angry about getting the blame. Then she looked at the master’s round face. He seemed slightly annoyed, a look she noticed on him often, but otherwise he appeared to be in a good mood. She pranced over to him to show how unafraid of the noise she was. He patted her gently then picked up Spot and held her close. Girl rubbed against his arm and hand to get attention.

  “He likes me best,” Spot had to say.

  ###

  A few words about the author:

  Gilbert Peppers is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy author with too many stories in his head and not enough time to finish writing them. Calling himself Peppyroni online, his eccentricities know no bound. He likes anything dealing with mysticism and fairytales especially cats, gnomes, and explosions. His works of fiction are as far flung and farfetched as he is. He lives in a modest home belonging to three cats atop Lookout Mountain.

 

  Fantasy Creature Spotlight: Prepare for adventure and fall into a realm of magic alongside amazing creatures. The Veil is a magical land, home to a veritable garden of paradise where many wondrous animals and people live. The most mundane of events becomes spectacular in this sylvan glade. Marvel at their beauty, courage, and adventures and bear witness to the wilder side of magic and fey creatures.

  Cattails are Made for Swatting: Discover life as seen through the eyes of a little tabby kitten! The Cattails series is based on real observation of cat behavior with some slight exaggerations. Girl finds new ways of causing mischief for her cantankerous roommate, Spot, and her master all at the same time. These short stories are for everyone’s enjoyment, written so that all ages may find the delights of cat life.

  Tales From the Void: Dare to embark on a haunting journey deep into the heart of the Void. From its dark abyss come unspeakable nightmares. Terrible creatures haunt dreams and tempt souls as the maelstrom of chaos and entropy spreads darkness over all. Horror tales of the most frightening monsters imaginable bring to you the thrill of the hunt, desperate survival, and lust for blood. Werewolves, Vampires, and Ghosts are but the surface of what lurks inside… the Void.

  Connect with Gilbert Online:

  https://twitter.com/#!/Peppyroni009 for endless Twitter updates from the wildest corners of his imagination.

  https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Peppy-Roni/268956856472566 where he plays Gnome Town and Farmville….

  https://thegnomehome.wordpress.com/ a weblog written by his spastic gnome cohort.