Moonlight Meetings

Chapter 1

Ollie padded out of her house and onto the front lawn. The crisp grass sparkled with dew from the previous night. Birds chirped in the distance, their cheeps sharp and clear. 

Then, just as quickly as the chirps started, they stopped. A human ran out of Ollie's house, and scooped her up. It stroked her long, black fur and made a few high-pitched sounds. Then, without warning, it ran back into Ollie's house and slammed the front door.

Ollie could remember her early days, sitting on the couch with her four humans. They would make high-pitched sounds and stroke her, and feed her scoops of food. Ollie could also remember the days when she slept in the crook of her mother's belly, and the feeling of a soft tongue rasping over her fur. Then, one day, she found herself in a white furry nest, her mother nowhere to be seen.

It was in that nest several weeks ago that Ollie realized that she would never see her mother again. She could remember the days before her realization, spending each night yowling with sadness, but with no sound in return.

Life with her four humans wasn't so bad, though. Minty, the one who had a strong smell of mint, would prepare her meals and let Ollie sleep in her bed. Stick, the skinniest and tallest of them all, would spend each morning preparing Ollie's milk and scratching her ears. Circle-Eyes, the human who had two clear circles hanging in front of his blue eyes, was the one who gave Ollie her favorite toy: a little fuzzy green mouse. But the human that Ollie loved most was Long-Fur. Long-Fur had long, brown fur trailing from her head to her hips, and had a fragrant smell of flowers. She would sit on the couch each morning and evening, and stroke Ollie's black fur and look into her yellow eyes. It was Long-Fur that seemed to actually care about Ollie, and it was her that made Ollie realize that she would enjoy life without her mother as much as she did with her.

Ollie realized that she was sitting on the couch. An unfamiliar human was stroking her with Long-Fur sitting next to the stranger. Ollie stared into Long-Fur's eyes, hoping that Long-Fur would understand that Ollie was feeling uncomfortable near this stranger. Instead, Long-Fur avoided eye contact, and started using a high-pitched sound to communicate with the stranger. Ollie wondered what she should do next. There was a she-cat, Luna, that lived nearby, and Ollie loved to trade stories and play with her. 

So she waited until the stranger had stopped stroking her and slipped down from the couch. She padded to the front-door and slipped into the cat flap. As soon as she was in the front garden, she drank in a familiar scent and spotted a tortoiseshell she-cat lingering on the white fence.

"Ollie!" the cat called excitedly. "I have some news!" 

Ollie climbed onto the fence and stared into the cat's amber eyes. "What news, Luna?" 

"Max, the tabby tom that lives next to my house, has vanished!" Luna mewed excitedly. "He has always been telling me that he prefers forest life rather than life with his humans, though I can't see why. Imagine living in the forest!" Luna shuddered and licked one paw nervously.

"He prefers forest life? What does he mean by that? There's no forest near here." Ollie meowed. "And what will his humans think? They must be worried sick!"

"There's a forest a few houses away from my place. It looks pretty creepy, and I have no idea how big it is." Luna replied. "I'm sure that he went off to live in the forest, but I don't miss him. All he used to say all day long was how much he loved forest life."

Ollie batted at a nearby butterfly. "He must be pretty stupid!"

Luna nodded. "Yeah, but I wonder how he knows what forest life is like." She cocked her head. "It must be horrible. Imagine hunting for food every day, sleeping in the snow in the winter, and not having a cool house in the summer. He must be crazy!"

"I agree," Ollie mewed, and saw Long-Fur standing in the doorway of her house, calling her name. "Well, I guess I'll have to go. See you tomorrow!" Luna nodded, and Ollie jumped off of the garden fence. As she padded inside her house, she wondered just how crazy a cat would have to be in order to like life in the forest.