Bob the Cat

=(^..^)= Chapter 1 =(^..^)=

Chapter 1

Once there was a cat named Bob.  Bob was a happy cat, until one day, his owners started putting their clothes in suitcases.  Bob was worried.  What’s happening, he thought, are they going somewhere?  Much to his horror, they proved him right the next day when they put their suitcases in the car. “Honey,” the man said, “do you really need this much stuff?  It’s only a one-month vacation.”  “Yes,” the woman said, “and anyway, where’s Bob?”  Aaaaaaah! Bob thought, they’re coming for me!  He turned to run, but the woman saw him and scooped him up, saying, “There you are, Bob!”  She stuffed him in his carrier, and he thought, where are they taking me?

       He found out an hour later when they arrived at “Catnip Fields, Boarding for Felines”.   They dropped him off with a portly lady who said, “What a cute little guy!”  Bob thought, Cute! I’m not cute!  His owners said to the lady, “Thanks!  We brought his favorite toys along so he’ll feel more at home.”  “Oh, that’s very nice!” the lady said.  “Do you want to leave a recording for him to listen to?  Of your voice, I mean, so he won’t get lonely.”  Bob rolled his eyes internally at that.  “Why not”, the woman said.  “We might as well make Bob as comfortable as possible.” “Oh, very good!” the lady said.  “Now come this way.”  They recorded their voices and left, saying, “Bye, Bob!”

      The lady then wheeled Bob and his stuff to his room, saying, “You’ll love it here, Bob! There are lots of other cats for you to meet.  I’ll bet you won’t ever want to leave!  Anyway, for your first day, you’ll be locked in your room so you can get used to it, but otherwise, you’ll be free. Here we are!  Room 202.”  She opened the door into a large room with a TV on one side, a cat jungle gym on the other, a large window looking onto a central bird garden, and lots of pillows in the middle.  Bob thought, Wow, very posh!  She set down his carrier and his box of stuff.  She let him out, pointing out the litter box and food bowl in opposite corners, saying “I know you can’t understand me, but I do this anyway.”  Bob thought, Who said I can’t understand you, lady? as she left. 

      Then he started exploring the room.  He found that if he pawed a big blue button on the floor, the TV turned on to Animal Planet.  Also, he found out that the food in the bowl was real tuna, which he ate quickly. He looked around for water and found that it was sitting in a pan by the window.  Then he unloaded his toys and sat in the box to wait for whatever came next.  While he was waiting, he thought about his past…

      Bob was born in 2008, to Azizi Cat and Oreo Cat.  His mom Azizi was from England, but came to the US when her owners moved.  She was a nice cat and didn’t scratch people. His dad Oreo was from the US originally.  He was also nice.  When Bob was ten weeks old, he was adopted by a nice couple.  They gave him lots of attention and love.  They even let him watch TV sometimes, if he’d been good.  He liked it there, except they didn’t let him go outside.  They said it was for his own good, but he wasn’t so sure.  Bob himself was pretty nice, unless his owners were trying to give him a bath. Then he turned evil, but that’s another story.  Bob was a medium-sized black cat. He had very soft, clean fur that he took pride in and always kept very neat.  He loved to chase his ball around, and thinking of that brought him back to the present.

      He dug his toy ball out of his pile, and then commenced rolling it around the room. Finally it hit the wall, but instead of bouncing off, it sank in.  What the heck?!?! Bob thought.  He pawed and pawed at the spot where it went in, but nothing happened, until twenty minutes later it came back out.  He rescued it before it vanished again.  He was relieved that it hadn’t disappeared forever to some unknown place.  He nudged it back into the pile and sat back down to contemplate the ball mystery when all of a sudden…