Kitty

2

Boy, was I wrong. Every. Single. Day. That's how often I see him now. Outside of school, I mean. I was just walking home from school one day, and there he was, looking around our local park. And guess what he was looking for? A little tabby cat. How do I know? Because that fool had the audacity to ask me if I've seen one around lately.

"Um, no, I haven't. In fact, I've never heard of stray cats in this neighborhood," I say, keeping a disinterested look on my face.

"Oh, huh, that's odd. I could've sworn it was stray. Maybe it's owned by someone. I'll have to look for a collar next time I see it," he says, looking disappointed as he trudges away.

And that's how I am feeling humiliated in Petco right now. I find a decent looking not-too-embarrassing cat collar and put it in the basket I'm carrying around. I walk a little farther down one of the cat aisles, wondering what's here.

My family has never had any pets, even though I begged my dad for a dog when I was 9. That never happened, mainly because my mom is allergic. Otherwise, we'd probably have, like, 5. My parents do love animals, although I'm not sure why we never adopted a cat. I'll have to ask when I get home.

Oh, if it's not obvious already, almost nobody knows I can turn into a cat. That would be a dumb thing to tell people. Like, I don't want anybody to see me as a cat and just say, "Oh, there's Leo." Nah, that'd be awkward. And plus, what if scientists wanna do all these tests on me or something. No way.

I've had to make sure to sweep my room and wash my sheets all the time to prevent my mom from seeing any cat hair, although she never really comes into my room. Which I respect.

Anyway, all this cat stuff looks dumb. Really? What cat would want to play with a shiny crinkly ball?

As I'm examining a toy mouse, someone behind me says, "You have a cat, Leo?"

I jump a little, startled, and turn around, now face-to-face with Jay. 

"Uh, yeah, I mean no, I was just shopping for my neighbor. They have a cat," I say, which is true. Their cat is the meanest little shit I've ever met. As a human, when I babysit him for them, he mauls me, and when I'm a cat, if he sees me through a window, he goes crazy and scratches on the window and screams at me.

"Oh, I see. What does he look like?" Jake asks.

Really dude? I've told you I haven't seen a tabby cat like 30 minutes ago. I sigh.

"He's a fat Siamese cat. Anyway, what are you doing here? You have a cat?" I say back, trying to change the subject. I don't want him to see the collar in my basket and get any ideas when he sees me wearing it, so I hold the basket behind me, staring at him expectantly.

He hangs his head sadly, and says, "No... I don't," then he snaps his head back up, saying, "Not yet, anyway! That cute tabby kitty can't hide forever!"

Oh my god. He's insane. He's gonna try to catnap me. I try backing up slowly out of the aisle, talking.

"Ah... I see. But what if the kitty already has a home? Wouldn't the family who owns him get sad?" Scooch scooch scooch. I'm getting farther away from him, closer to victory.

"Oh... Yeah... I guess that's true... Wait, how do you know it's a male?"

"Huh? What? Did I say that?" Oh shoot I did. "Well, if you know basic knowledge about orange tabbies, you would know most of them are males. So I was just assuming. Anyway, I've gotta go, see you at school," I say, trying to finish our conversation and already halfway out of the aisle.

"Ok b-" he starts saying, but I'm making a mad dash to 2 aisles away at the cat treat section. Whew. Close one. Woah, what's that smell? I sniff the air, and I follow the amazing scent to a bag of cat treats. No, I cannot get distracted. And plus, human food is much better, I have to remind myself. I head to the check-out section of the store, but there are too many people in the lines. I'll look at something else and wait for less people.

I wander over to where the cats up for adoption are kept, and squat down to look at them. They're in plastic box things, with glass facing towards where customers can see them. Poor things. I know in my cat form, I wouldn't want to be stuck in such a small space all day, every day.

I sigh, and look at the cat in front of me. It's on a little shelf in its box enclosure, sleeping in a bed. It's all white with gray splotches. I look at the name tag that hangs on its part of the enclosure, and it reads: "Clark". This poor cat. I sigh yet again, and stand up. Well, I can barely take care of myself. I don't think it'd be very responsible of me to get a cat. Maybe my parents would like a cat, though. I'll ask them. There are many cats that need rescuing and adopting.

I shuffle over to a check-out line that has been deserted, and put my items on the check-out counter. Wait, items? I look down and see that the delicious smelling cat treats somehow made it into my basket. Dangit.

After paying, I head out of Petco with my two purchases, and hop on my bike I had previously hid in a bush beside the store. After tying the bag with my treats and collar onto my bike, I zoom off towards home.