Sanders Sides One Shots & Shorts

Stray (Moxiety)

Date Published: Jan 21, 2018
Word Count: 1630
POV: Patton, 1st Person

I place the two slices of bread on the cutting board, and begin to assemble my sandwich. A tuna sandwich, to be exact. They're not my favourite, but, tuna's the only protein source that I have in the house.

Man, we really need to go grocery shopping.

I make a mental note to mention it to my brother Roman tonight.

As I spread the tuna over the bread, I begin to wonder why Roman likes this stuff in the first place. I mean, it's not terrible, but it's not good either.

After I was finished, and positioning the second piece of bread over the first, I picked up my cutting board and bring it to the table. I decided I didn't want to do more dishes than I had to, so went without a plate, choosing rather to eat off of the cutting board, instead.

I take a bite of my sandwich, and stare out of the kitchen window, into our front garden. The sun was shining, and I could almost feel with warm breeze that I could see rustling the leaves outside. It looked like such a nice day out. It seemed a shame to be spending so much time inside. So, I grabbed my cutting board, and made my way to the front door, stepping outside, and sitting on the steps of the front porch.

I took a couple more bites of my sandwich, and set it back down on the cutting board. I close my eyes, and listen to the sound of a robin and chickadee puttering around on the trees on our lawn. I like to imagine that they were talking. Perhaps about the quality of their worms this season, or arguing about which bird-TV show is better, or discussing how Flappy Bird totally misrepresented how birds fly, or thinking about how it was beginning to smell oddly like tuna out here.

I was pulled away from my thoughts as I felt something soft brush my leg, and I jump in surprise, my head ripping downward to see what had touched me. There, peering curiously at my leg, was a black kitten. I stared at it in surprise. "Why, hello there, little fella!"

The cat was only about two of my hands long, and I could probably lift it quite easily. 'I wonder if it's a stray...' I think, as I reach down to check if the kitten has a collar. However, as soon as the kitten catches sight of my fingers, it jumps back, and scurries to hide behind a shrub.

"Oh... did I scare you? I'm sorry. Come on out, kiddo, it's alright." I coo softly, and slowly, the kitten pokes its head out from around the corner, peeping at me shyly. After a little persuading, the cat cautiously shuffled toward me. Stopping in front of my now out-stretched hand, sniffing it, and then, once deciding it was safe, began rubbing its head across my hand.

"Aw... aren't you just the cutest thing?" I sigh. The kitten flops on its stomach, and rolls over, so that it's feet are sticking straight up in the air. I giggle. Then, I pick up my sandwich with my other hand. I look down at the sandwich for a minute. "Ooh! Hey, do you want some of my sandwich?" I rip off a piece, and extend it towards the cat.

The kitten rolled upright, and scrambled away from the bite, and stared at it in terror. "Hey, hey, it's okay... it's just a sandwich, it's not going to hurt you." I say, as I set the piece of tuna sandwich on the ground. The startled animal looked at it with suspicion, before edging towards it, ever so slowly, sniffing it, and then taking a miniature bit out of it.

"You're such a scaredy cat! Oh! That's funny, because you're a cat, get it?" I laugh, as the kitten nibbles away at the tuna sandwich, though the cat still looked at it with skepticism. "You know, I think I'll call you Anxiety." I smile at the adorable little kitten, and he looks up at me. I reach out, and he hesitantly allows me to pet him.