Kitty and Patty

By Manoshi De Silva

Kitty opened her sleepy eyes wondering why the people in her house were all talking in excitement. Kitty slept the whole day and got up only to have her meals. She thought of herself as the ‘queen’ of the house. "Whatever they are talking about can't be anything interesting to me," she thought closing her eyes again.

But how wrong Kitty was! The people at Kitty's house had got another pet; a puppy. "Kitty, meet Patty!" said the little girl of the house. Kitty opened one eye to look at what she was talking about. Seeing a puppy in the small girl’s arms shocked Kitty and the fur on Kitty's body and tail stood up, stiff like a wire brush.

Kitty hissed at Patty showing her sharp teeth and claws. The puppy wagged his tail and struggled to get near Kitty to play with her, not realizing how angry the cat was. "We will have to keep Kitty away from Patty, till she gets used to him!" said the little girl's mother, carrying Patty away.

"There goes my freedom and peace," thought Kitty, shaking in anger. "They have me, the perfect pet, but yet they go and bring this silly puppy home!" thought Kitty, lying down feeling annoyed. "I'll have to get rid of that silly little puppy soon!"

When Kitty was given lunch that day, Patty was also given his lunch. Kitty watched Patty gulp down his lunch like he'd never seen food before. "What a greedy fellow he is," thought Kitty. "He finished his whole meal at once!" Patty then came like a flash towards Kitty's plate and started eating Kitty's lunch as well. Kitty snarled and hit Patty hard, making him yelp in pain.

The little girl picked up Patty and scolded Kitty for hurting him. "What a joke this is," thought Kitty, feeling very angry. "That stupid puppy stole my food, and they blame me!" Kitty ate her food and went back to her bed, only to find Patty sleeping on it. Kitty hissed and chased Patty, making him run off.

"I must get rid of this dog as soon as I can," thought Kitty, watching the little girl petting the puppy. "I can bite him or scrape him, but that will only make him shout and they will end up scolding me for hurting him. How can I chase him from this house without getting scolded?" Kitty thought of ways to chase off Patty, without getting caught to the people at home.

Patty tried his best to make friends with Kitty. He brought his ball and pushed it towards Kitty, trying to get her to play with him. The sight of the rolling ball was very tempting and Kitty wanted to run after it. But she stopped herself because she didn't want to make friends with Patty.

"Remember to keep the gate closed!" Kitty heard the little girl's mother advising her. "If it's open, Patty will run away and we won't be able to find him!" "That's it!" giggled Kitty, "if I manage to open the gate and get that silly little puppy to go on to the road, he'll run off like an idiot and won't come back home." Kitty licked her paws and wiped her face feeling very happy with her plan.

A little later Kitty went near the gate and observed it. There was a latch on top of the gate. Kitty knew that if she could lift the latch and open the gate her plan would be successful. "Once I manage to open the gate, I must push the ball out and get Patty to follow it. The ball will roll down the road and Patty will run out after it!" thought Kitty.

"But how do I reach the gate latch? I'll have to climb up the wall and get to the top of the gate." Kitty tried to jump up the wall, but it was too high. She looked around and saw a piece of wood leaning against the wall. "If I climb on this, it will be an easy jump onto the wall," thought Kitty and started climbing up the piece of wood.

As Kitty climbed to the top of the piece of wood, she took her aim and tried to jump onto the wall. But the piece of wood slipped away and Kitty lost her balance. Splash! Kitty fell into the pond that was not too far from where she had jumped. Now, Kitty didn't know how to swim. She splashed around in the cold water, struggling to get out.

The edge of the pond was muddy and slippery, so Kitty's sharp claws didn't help her at all. Water got into Kitty's nose and mouth as she tried to shout. She was so scared that she couldn't think of anything. But out of nowhere appeared Patty. He kept his paws at the edge of the pond and pulled out Kitty with his mouth. It took some effort but Kitty managed to climb out with the help of Patty.

Kitty was wet and shivering, but more than anything, she was very embarrassed. So she ran away and hid behind the house. "Patty saved my life!" she thought gratefully, while drying herself. "He is not all that bad. In fact I am the bad one. I hated Patty for no reason, even when he did no wrong to me. I was jealous, and that's not a good thing!"

So, from that moment on Kitty made friends with Patty. She shared her meals and even her toys with Patty. "What's going on with these two?" wondered everyone at home in surprise. "Kitty hated Patty just yesterday and today they are best friends!" "Being friends with Patty is not too bad," thought Kitty. "He's a little different than me. But that's not a problem to make friends with someone. Being friends with someone is much nicer than being jealous of them!"