Bright sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the room with its warm yellow glow. Sally, who was sitting at her desk, paused from writing on her computer when a ginger ball of fur jumped up beside the computer and started to walk across it.
Sally sighed, gave the cat a quick pat, then picked it up and set back down on the floor. The cat stared indignantly at her with its yellow eyes.
“I know, Freddie,” Sally told him. “I know. You’re hungry. I’ll feed you in a few minutes, okay? Just let me finish this up real quick.”
The cat blinked at her for a few moments, then sauntered off. Sally stretched in her chair, started to type again, but found she’d lost her train of thought. So she got up and went over to the window. She stared out at the trees of small woods behind her house for a moment, then started to open the window to let in some fresh air. As she did, a small yellow blur moving out among the trees caught her eye. She watched it for a moment, until she realized the blur was actually a small yellow kitten stumbling along among the underbrush.
Sally hurried outside. Freddie watched from the window as Sally ran across the backyard to where the yellow kitten was. Sally knelt beside it and saw it was a very young kitten, not even 8 weeks old yet. It looked dirty and a little underfed. It mewed weakly up at her as she studied it. Sally glanced around, wondering where it had come from and if its mother or any other kittens were near. She didn’t see any, so she picked it up and carried it with her as she searched the woods.
Sally searched for a while, but didn’t go too deep into the woods as she didn’t think the kitten could have come from very far away. But not finding any other kittens or the mother cat, she decided to take the kitten home with her and care for it.
When she got home, she gave the kitten some food and bath, where she found that the kitten was a boy. She decided to call him her “yellow fellow” until she could come up with a more appropriate name.
Once the kitten was clean and well fed, she took him into the living room, where she made him bed from the pillows on the couch and settled him on the floor beside her desk so she could keep an eye on him as she worked. She’d take him to the vet in the morning to get him checked out.
The kitten slept peacefully as she typed away. Fred, the ginger tom cat, who still hadn’t been fed, came into the room and walked over to the desk. He started to jump on it, then noticed the bed of pillows and sleeping kitten. He crept over to it, gave the kitten a sniff, then glared indignantly at Sally with his yellow eyes as if to say, “Why?”
The kitten turned over and started softly purring. Fred sat and watched it for a bit then, slowly, he gave it a small lick on the top of its head. Then he jumped up on the desk and started walking on the computer keyboard again.
Sally sighed. “All right, Fred. All right. Dinner time.”
This post part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “Why/Y”:
The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS April 28/18
Jeanne Owens, author 