My Grand Adventure - Epilogue

Mine found all sorts of hurts on me, but they healed. The Family couldn't really take me to the vet, they were spending lots of money keeping all us cats up to date on shots and "fixed" as it was. Besides all that, I've never really been welcome back to the vet after a certain, er, incident. (I only destroyed PART of the clinic, sheesh!) But Mine tended to me, and I was glad not to have the stress of a doctor's visit.

I lived out the rest of my life close to home, never again leaving the yard. I was plagued with health problems, however. I never grew bigger; I stayed kitten sized for life. Every once in a while my ear would do this bizarre trick. the skin on the inside would bubble out and my ear would bend down (as you can sort of see in my display photo). It mostly happened in the ear where I was bit, but occasionally the other ear "bubbled" too. It was sure hard to hear when the ear was bubbled, so I stuck to a daily routine and avoided surprises. But you better believe I didn't let my stunted size or so called "disabilities" diminish my attitude! The other cats all knew their place...

To summarize, the rest of my life was lived out happily with Mine and the other cats who tried to compete for her attention. Thus ends my Grand Adventure.

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My Grand Adventure - Part Five

Mine was up in her room reading. She heard my yowl and stopped dead. She knew my voice better than any cat's, but thought she was imagining things. She had begun trying to accept that I was dead. I had been gone for at least a month and she was mourning me. But just on the off chance...

She peeked out her bedroom window on the second floor. Even from the distance I could see her face change from caution, to disbelief, to joy. She blinked hard, stared, and then her face disappeared. Seconds later I heard her barreling down the stairs as fast as she could. Apparently she thought that if she did not hurry I'd be gone, a figment of her imagination. I wasn't going anywhere. She burst out the backdoor and I heard her Father yelling "What is WRONG!?" Mine saw me there, in my pitiful state and called back, "It's Chunker! My Chunker! Hurry!"

Mine bent to examine me. She was shocked. One of my ears was in bad shape, and an eye was crusted shut with dried blood. There were so many areas of fur matted with more dried blood. The worst was under my right front leg where the monster had bit down on paw and neck. I had a huge gash under my arm. It had bled a lot. My fur was matted so badly that I couldn't move that leg at all. I could stand and limp on it, but the shoulder was locked into one position.

I was so happy to see Mine that I purred, even though her hands running over me, checking for hurts, caused lots of pain. Mine asked her Father, please, couldn't she bring me inside the house to take care of me. She didn't want to leave me alone outside. He said of course and went about finding a litter box and food. I knew, at last, I was safe. I was home with Mine. She would help me.

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My Grand Adventure - Part Four

Now, not to worry friends, even though I was in pain and lost, I'm not one of those helpless, damsel-in-distress-type felines. Oh no. I've prided myself on my independence and resourcefulness for my entire life. I sat still for a moment and tried to decide what the best way to find home was. If I picked any direction and just walked, I would more than likely miss my house entirely. If I sat on my injured tail and moped, I'd die for sure. So I decided to walk in a wide circle, spiraling increasingly outward around the central point where I was at the moment, until I spotted something familiar. I set out. It was a long and difficult journey. Many times I wanted to give up and let pain and hunger take me. But my stubborn streak won out and I kept going.

Then one day, several weeks after my odyssey had began, I saw it. Train tracks. With a little copse of trees behind it. To the right, a horse pasture. To the left, a field of tall grass. It was my neighborhood at last! The train tracks I was looking at had once been my self imposed boundary. I never crossed them, because if I went further from home than that, I would not hear Mine calling my name if she needed me. I wanted to run race home, but it was nearly night and I was still moving painfully slowly. So I burrowed into some comfy-ish grass and slept for the evening.

The next day, I carefully set out for the tracks. Listening carefully and paying attention for any vibrations that might indicate an oncoming train, I limped across them. Then it was a straight shot to home! I pushed it a little, reopening some of my many wounds, but finally I was through the trees (I had feared running into raccoons hiding there) and in my own back yard. I struggled and limped, dragging my starved body past the cat food and the water dish. I positioned myself beneath a window I knew well and let out the loudest and (though I'm ashamed to admit it) most pathetic meow of my life. "Mine!" I called, "I need you!"

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My Grand Adventure - Part Three

I drifted in and out of consciousness as the raccoons took me away to their home. They thought I was already dead and so turned their backs momentarily. I struggled to open my eyes, but only one would open, and only then a tiny crack. I saw their momentary inattention and seized my opportunity as best I could. I pulled myself silently away from the group of monsters with my one good paw (and I define good as "slightly less pummeled and painful than the other three"). I made it to a dense patch of trees before I passed out again.

I awoke the next morning and the raccoons were nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, they aren't very smart creatures and my short "dash" into the woods had shaken them off. They either couldn't find me, or just didn't care. That first day I could spare only enough energy to crawl to a puddle and lap up some muddy water. I considered grooming, but was soaked with blood, and just didn't have the energy or ability to spend hours cleaning up my own blood.

The following week was a blur. I slept and drank what water I could find. I tried to move as little as possible. Every time that I did move, I reopened a wound and felt shooting pain from every nerve in my body. Gradually though, I build up some strength and was able to stand. Walking was another story, but I could stand. Ever so slowly, I searched for food. But meals were few and far between. I lived in fear that the raccoons, or a fox, or any predator really, would find me in my injured state and make a meal out of me. I was too weak to climb trees or search out a hidey hole. Besides, I left a trail of bloody paw prints behind me everywhere I went.

I knew that if I was to survive for many more days, I needed more than the sheer luck that had got me by the past few days. I would need plentiful food, fresh water, and a safe place to rest. In order to get those things, I needed Mine. That's when I realized I had no idea where home was.

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My Grand Adventure - Part Two

The raccoons circled me for a few moments, and then attacked. I think their sheer surprise at the ferocity of my counter attack is what bought me time. I became a flurry of slashing claws and gouging teeth, darting this way and that. The 'coons were big and sloppy, one on one, I could have out-maneuvered any one of them. Sadly, they had me beat by pure numbers. They pushed closer, wearing me down. I yowled at the top of my lungs. The Family thought it was just another cat fight, spats were commonplace in the neighborhood, and so no one came to my rescue. The battle screeched to a halt when one 'coon got in a lucky shot. He lunged for my neck. I saw him coming, but too late. All I could do was quickly maneuver a paw, so that instead of piercing the back of my neck and my soft throat, he bit down on my leg and the scruff of my neck. The pain was incredible; I could barely move, let alone continue to fight. The raccoons sped off and I drifted in and out of consciousness, still dangling from the stinking raccoons mouth, unsure of where they were taking me.

Mine awoke the next morning, and was confused when I missed breakfast. Ever since she helped me with the whole fishhook fiasco, I had never left the yard, let alone missed a meal. By supper time, she was truly worried. She feared the worst, and as she searched for me, she was afraid she would find my dead body. Little did she know, that at that very moment, death would have been a welcome gift to me.

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My Grand Adventure - Part One

Mine thinks that I had a very dramatic life. Or at least a couple highly dramatic moments. More than my share. So I've decided to write a few diary entries to document my greatest, most terrifying adventure.

It begins with stolen food. Mine lived with her family in a small town near the country. In the copse of trees behind Mine's home there lived several families of racoons. Some of these racoons were huge, overgrown bullies. And they were lazy! At night they would sneak up to the Family's house and chase us felines from our food dish. They were too lazy to find their own chow, so they turned to thievery. It was despicable. The Family noticed and started feeding us earlier in the day. For a while, this worked quite well. The racoons got frustrated, and we cats had full bellies. We assumed they would leave us alone. But no.

The bullies decided thata if there was no cat food to eat, the cats would be punished. And who did the cowards choose to make an example out of? Why the smallest female feline of course. That feline, was me. I was less than a year old, and still growing, but was small for my age. Little did they know, they'd chosen the wrong fuzzball. The bigger cats fell back and I faced our bullies with my tiny head held high. Each one of them was at least five times my mass. Even I, brave and strong though I am, knew that I was facing a losing battle. But I wanted my final act to be a fight, to show the other cats that they must never show fear to cowardly bullies.


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