Willy, the Cat

A New Sign

"Wake up, Willy!"

I shoot up at the touch of Smokey rocking me back and forth.

"Hm?"

"We have to go back to the town. There's still such more out there you should learn about."

I jumped up, "Let's go!"

The walk back wasn't too far; I still had some energy when we arrived.

"Are you thirsty?"

"A little."

"Ok, but let's grab a bite before we drink water."

I nodded my head in agreement.

When we found a trash can, Smokey taught me how to figure out of one food was edible or not. It was a bit confusing, but I got the hang of it, eventually.

After we each picked our scraps to eat, we sat down. That's when I noticed something...new.

"Smokey?"

"Yes?"

"Why is there a picture of me on that paper?"

"Where?!"

I pointed to it on the tall, wooden pole.

"Oh...you're right. It is a picture of you."

"But why?" I asked, hoping that he would know.
I watched him examine it carefully.

"It's...not important."

I stared at him in disbelief, "Are you sure? What does it say?"

"I said it's NOT IMPORTANT," he snapped.
I flinched and he started to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Willy, but we can't be distracted by pointless signs."

"But-"

"Hurry up and eat so I can continue training you."

That afternoon, I was taught much about safety when crossing the road, distance from humans, and staying away from some nasty dogs. We soon were pulled into a conversation about the old forest that stood here in the past.

"I don't know too much about it," Smokey admitted, "but the way Apple described it...I could almost picture it."

"Apple? Who's that?"

"The wise she-cat who knew about the forest."

"How did she know there even WAS a forest?"

"Sometimes, history just passes on from generation to generation."

"That's amazing!" I exclaimed. "How did you meet Apple?"

"We met in my early days of living on these streets. She was actually my mentor, and taught me all there was to survive."

He began to frown, "She was an abused cat when she was with her humans, so in her elder days, Apple decided it was too much for her and escaped out into this new world of living."

Smokey swallowed and continued,
"We were very close, but then, her time was up. She died when her legs unexpectedly failed while she was crossing the road. I wanted to help her, but it was too late. The car came and ended her agony."

He sighed, "Her shrieks of pain still haunt my dreams as I stand on the sidewalk doing nothing what-so-ever."

I bowed my head, respectively, "I am so sorry you had to go through that, but what could you have done? Even if you did attempt to pull her to the sidewalk, you would BOTH be hit by the car.

He straightened his posture, "Thank you, Willy, but it's alright. You don't have to make it seem like it was not my fault. Now, we should be heading back to the shelter."

When we climbed to the top of the hill, night had fallen.

"I'll be right back," Smokey said before walking to a small patch of grass.

I crawled inside the hole, tired, and fumbled with the leaves and paper trying to get as comfortable as I could. Just then, my eye caught something.
I flipped over the piece of paper and gasped.

It looked similar to the sign I saw on the tall, wooden pole with a picture of me and human words...except the picture on here was.....

"Smokey?!"