Post by Castle Court Jester on Apr 5, 2024 3:15:16 GMT -6
BLACKIE AND SUGAR
It was a snowy, slippery day as the two sat in separate pet carriers, meowing often and trying to touch paws through the gates that made the carriers' doors. The car crept along, occasionally sliding on the road then adjusting. Blackie and Sugar lie in the crates looking at each other and talking.
“Where are we going?” Blackie said, moving his head frantically from side to side trying to look around.
“I do not know,” Sugar replied. “It will be okay though. We have each other.”
The tires spun a little as the Ford Escort fought to make its way up a small inline in the road. It eventually got a grip on the road and proceeded to move again.
“I have never been so scared in my life!” said Blackie, looking over at Sugar with wide eyes.
Finally the car came to a stop.
“We will be okay,” Sugar said, trying to calm Blackie down. She was scared too but did not want to show her fear to Blackie. He was nervous enough and tended to lean on her for support as the “cat in charge.”
All of a sudden the driver's door opened and a heavy, tan work boot stomped into the snow sending a small mist of snow into the air. The man walked around to the back of the car and opened one of the rear passenger doors. Suddenly a hand reached, grabbing Blackie's pet carrier.
“Help me!” Blackie screamed, looking down at Sugar from above as the carrier began to exit the car.
“Hold on!” Sugar hollered back, pacing as best as she could in the confined space of her carrier.
The hand returned momentarily, grabbing her carrier now. She swayed as the carrier swung a little to one side as it was being lifted up. The man turned and Sugar could see Blackie now sitting in the snow, the carrier at his side. Blackie ran over to a dumpster area. There was some exposed cement
to sit on there. He called out, “Sugar!” Sugar called back to Blackie, a loud meow to the man, then her crate was set down in the snow as well and the giant hand opened the gate of the carrier. Sugar looked up at the man for a few seconds after exiting the carrier, meowing, wanting to know what was going on. The man put the crates back into the back of the car ignoring her. When he was done he got back into the driver's seat of the car and started the engine. He drove off leaving the two of them alone to fend for themselves.
“What are we going to do?” Blackie asked. “He just left us here! It is freezing!”
Sugar noticed a storm drain on the street in front of them. It sat at a corner of an intersection. A large, yellow house sat on the property.
“For now.....,” Sugar began, “let's get down that storm drain. It will at least be a little warmer down there.”
The two of them hopped down into the storm drain. Blackie was happy. It was indeed warmer down there and there was a lot of paper and trash down there with them as well. Sugar began to make a bed for the two of them out of the paper. When Blackie saw what she was doing he began to help.
“I just cannot believe that he left us like he did,” Blackie said while kneading the paper to make it more comfortable. He had even found some strips of fabric to help make the bed comfortable for the two of them.
“I cannot believe it either Blackie,” Sugar replied. “Haven't we always been good cats and good friends to the family?”
“I always thought we have been,” Blackie said. “They always seemed to act like we were anyway.”
“Especially the kids,” Sugar added. “Do you think Tessie and Jake know what has happened?”
“I am worried about them,” Blackie said, lying down on the bed they had made together.
“Well, at least we have some shelter now,” Sugar said, lying down next to Blackie. “Now, what to do for food?”
'Surely there are some mice down here,' Blackie thought to himself.
The two of them went to sleep. They were not hungry for now, still being in shock with the events that had happened. In the morning they would look for mice and scrounge around for whatever else they could find to eat. What other choice did they have?
Blackie woke up first and immediately began bathing himself. He thought he would let Sugar sleep a little while longer but she woke up soon after he had. The two of them talked while bathing.
“Are you hungry?” Blackie asked her.
“Yes, very,” Sugar replied.
“I will see what I can find for us to eat,” Blackie said. “You work on what we are going to do about all of this.”
Blackie was the better hunter of the two and while smart himself it was Sugar who always had the big ideas. Blackie was the brawn. He began slinking his way along the drain. Up ahead the drain connected to another drain leading to more opportunities. He was aware that he needed to be careful and pay attention to where he was going so that he would not end up getting lost in this maze. Sugar watched Blackie go for as long as she could. Eventually Blackie disappeared into the darkness. Suddenly, Sugar heard something coming from up above outside. Somebody was speaking. No. Two people were speaking. A man and a woman. Sugar perked her ears up to hear better. Of course she
could not understand a word of what they were saying to each other but she could get an idea of the kind of people they were, if they were friendly or not, by the way that they communicated. She jumped up and out of the storm drain. The man and woman were still speaking with each other. The man was carrying a dish of some kind. Sugar could smell the food. Soon the man began walking back out of sight around the house, still talking. Sugar decided to slowly approach and see what happened. She hoped for the best. Though there was snow all over the lawn she could find some better spots to step on occasionally. Sometimes she had to step right into the snow however. She was not happy about it when she had to, frequently licking her paws and shaking her head as she did so. Sugar made it to the driveway which was shoveled thankfully and sat down , watching as the woman and man continued speaking to each other. The man was preparing to go feed something, she was sure of that. What exactly he was preparing to feed she was not sure. The food did not smell great but at least it was something. The woman had a screen door partially opened and was speaking to the man through it. All of a sudden there was a growling sound! Sugar was startled! She looked to where the sound had come from and saw another cat looking out a side window at her from inside the house. The man and woman turned and saw her!
“Hey sweety!” the man said to her. “It's okay, c'mere!” He held two fingers out to her and slowly approached. The cat inside the house snarled again and Sugar took off, running back down the driveway! The woman looked on, startled. Sugar ran across the front lawn, no longer caring about the snow. As she neared the storm drain the man saw her as he came around the corner of the house. She looked back at him and then dropped down into the drain.
“Kitty kitty!” the man called again but Sugar was afraid. She did not dare come out.
As Sugar heard the man calling, “Kitty kitty!” she lay down on the bed controlling her breathing and waiting for Blackie to return. Hopefully he had gotten hold of a couple of mice to eat.
Blackie came out of the darkness of the pipes about a half an hour later. He saw Sugar lying on the bed. He had a mouse hanging from his mouth and set it down in front of the bed.
“You okay?” Blackie asked.
“Yes. I am fine,” Sugar replied.
“You do not look fine,” Blackie said, cuddling up close to her.
“When you left to hunt for food I heard people talking. They live in the house where we are, a man and a woman. I went to investigate.”
“Oh!” Blackie said, bringing a second mouse over to the bed. “And how did that go?”
“Well,” Sugar began. “I felt that the people were nice people,” she said. “The man even tried to coax me back out of the drain.”
“Okay,” Blackie replied. “So why did you run into the drain then?”
“Because of this other cat that was inside the house,” Sugar said, chewing at her mouse. “It had startled me,” she explained. “I just got scared and ran.”
“The cat is just being territorial,” Blackie said. “We would do the same if we were in the same place that it is.”
“I suppose so,” Sugar said.
The two of them talked more as they enjoyed their dinner. After their stomachs settled they had decided that they would try approaching the house again.
After they had eaten Blackie and Sugar napped off and on throughout the night. They had decided to wait to approach the house and people until the next day. Sugar woke up and looked over at Blackie. He was still sleeping. She decided that she would stretch her legs for a bit and jumped up to the edge of the storm drain. Sugar looked up at the stars and stretched, then decided to check out the house a little. The driveway sloped upward from the street. It was a long driveway. She walked it until she reached the back door of the house and sniffed the door, getting an idea of the people here from the scents. All of a sudden a white dog appeared from behind the small fence at the head of the driveway. The dog barked, startling Sugar! She was about to run when the dog said, “Who are you? You do not need to run.”
“I am Sugar,” she replied.
“Nice to meet you!” the dog said. “I am Stardust! But you can call me Star!” The dog jumped around suddenly, full of energy.
“I am with a friend,” Sugar said, amused at the dog jumping around full of energy. “His name is Blackie.”
“Blackie!” the dog replied with a smile. “Blackie and Sugar!” The dog's tail wagged back and forth. Sugar could tell that she was a very friendly dog indeed.
“Are the people here nice, Star?” Sugar asked, approaching carefully. “They seem like nice people.”
“They are very nice people!” Stardust said. “If you want to get spoiled....,” suddenly she sneezed. Sugar jumped! “.....this is the place to be!” Star finished, shaking her head back and forth. She looked up at Sugar and began dancing around again.
“Well okay then!” Sugar said. “Blackie and I are thinking of trying to move in and own them.”
“I am confident that the two of you would be most welcome!” Star replied with a smile.
“See you tomorrow, Star!” Sugar called back over her shoulder as she walked down the driveway. “And thank you!”
“You are welcome!” Stardust said. “I look forward to the two of you joining our family! Tell Blackie hello for me!” Star turned in circles with excitement as she watched Sugar walk back to the storm drain.
“I will!” Sugar called back to Stardust. “Funny dog,” she said to herself. She jumped back down into the storm drain. Blackie was still sleeping, his left paw twitching.
'Having a running dream,' Sugar thought to herself as she watched Blackie sleep. She curled up next to him and went back to sleep.
The sun woke Sugar up in the morning, shining down into the storm drain. Blackie was sitting, looking at her.
“What?” Sugar asked him with a yawn.
“Hungry?” Blackie asked.
“Yes, starving,” Sugar replied.
“There is a bowl of food up on the manhole cover along with a bowl of fresh water,” Blackie said.
“Really?” Sugar asked.
“Yes, really,” Blackie replied.
Sugar stretched and sat up.
“They must be from the people,” Sugar said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Blackie replied. “Go eat and then we will go up to their door.”
“I wonder if Star told them something,” Sugar said, looking back at Blackie momentarily as she prepared to make her jump.
“Who is Star?” Blackie asked, turning to look at her.
Sugar filled him in about Star and then jumped up to eat breakfast.
After Sugar had her fill the two of them started walking up the long, sloped driveway of the house. Suddenly the man and the woman came out of the back door and started approaching a car. Sugar and Blackie immediately froze, not sure what to expect. The people had not noticed them yet. The man opened the passenger door of the car and the woman began getting into it when something caught her eye. It was Sugar approaching a little more.
“What are you doing!” Blackie hissed at Sugar.
“Hey kitty!” the woman said to Sugar with a smile. “C'mere!” She held her fingers out like she had food. Blackie shook his head as Sugar fell for the “have food” trick but then he slowly worked his way ahead as well.
“Oh! Look hon, here's the other!” the man said as he walked around the open car door. He squatted down, a little ways away from Blackie, also doing the food trick.
'Please,' thought Blackie rolling his eyes but then he gave in and trotted over to the man. The four of them sat in the driveway where it was dry. A lot of petting and purring took place. Blackie and Sugar looked at each other with a smile, rubbing their heads together. In the back yard Stardust barked, letting Blackie and Sugar know how happy she was that they were now part of the family.
“It sounds like Stardust is pretty excited too,” the woman said, petting Sugar.
“It does indeed!” replied the man as he pet Blackie.
In an upstairs window the cat, Alexander, looked down on what was happening in the driveway.
Blackie felt the vibes and looked up at Alexander's scowling face looking down at him from the window.
'I sure hope he comes around,' Blackie thought to himself as he tried a smile at Alexander.
Alexander seemed to show a small smile back at Blackie. At least Blackie thought that maybe he had anyway.
The End
--msl2024
It was a snowy, slippery day as the two sat in separate pet carriers, meowing often and trying to touch paws through the gates that made the carriers' doors. The car crept along, occasionally sliding on the road then adjusting. Blackie and Sugar lie in the crates looking at each other and talking.
“Where are we going?” Blackie said, moving his head frantically from side to side trying to look around.
“I do not know,” Sugar replied. “It will be okay though. We have each other.”
The tires spun a little as the Ford Escort fought to make its way up a small inline in the road. It eventually got a grip on the road and proceeded to move again.
“I have never been so scared in my life!” said Blackie, looking over at Sugar with wide eyes.
Finally the car came to a stop.
“We will be okay,” Sugar said, trying to calm Blackie down. She was scared too but did not want to show her fear to Blackie. He was nervous enough and tended to lean on her for support as the “cat in charge.”
All of a sudden the driver's door opened and a heavy, tan work boot stomped into the snow sending a small mist of snow into the air. The man walked around to the back of the car and opened one of the rear passenger doors. Suddenly a hand reached, grabbing Blackie's pet carrier.
“Help me!” Blackie screamed, looking down at Sugar from above as the carrier began to exit the car.
“Hold on!” Sugar hollered back, pacing as best as she could in the confined space of her carrier.
The hand returned momentarily, grabbing her carrier now. She swayed as the carrier swung a little to one side as it was being lifted up. The man turned and Sugar could see Blackie now sitting in the snow, the carrier at his side. Blackie ran over to a dumpster area. There was some exposed cement
to sit on there. He called out, “Sugar!” Sugar called back to Blackie, a loud meow to the man, then her crate was set down in the snow as well and the giant hand opened the gate of the carrier. Sugar looked up at the man for a few seconds after exiting the carrier, meowing, wanting to know what was going on. The man put the crates back into the back of the car ignoring her. When he was done he got back into the driver's seat of the car and started the engine. He drove off leaving the two of them alone to fend for themselves.
“What are we going to do?” Blackie asked. “He just left us here! It is freezing!”
Sugar noticed a storm drain on the street in front of them. It sat at a corner of an intersection. A large, yellow house sat on the property.
“For now.....,” Sugar began, “let's get down that storm drain. It will at least be a little warmer down there.”
The two of them hopped down into the storm drain. Blackie was happy. It was indeed warmer down there and there was a lot of paper and trash down there with them as well. Sugar began to make a bed for the two of them out of the paper. When Blackie saw what she was doing he began to help.
“I just cannot believe that he left us like he did,” Blackie said while kneading the paper to make it more comfortable. He had even found some strips of fabric to help make the bed comfortable for the two of them.
“I cannot believe it either Blackie,” Sugar replied. “Haven't we always been good cats and good friends to the family?”
“I always thought we have been,” Blackie said. “They always seemed to act like we were anyway.”
“Especially the kids,” Sugar added. “Do you think Tessie and Jake know what has happened?”
“I am worried about them,” Blackie said, lying down on the bed they had made together.
“Well, at least we have some shelter now,” Sugar said, lying down next to Blackie. “Now, what to do for food?”
'Surely there are some mice down here,' Blackie thought to himself.
The two of them went to sleep. They were not hungry for now, still being in shock with the events that had happened. In the morning they would look for mice and scrounge around for whatever else they could find to eat. What other choice did they have?
Blackie woke up first and immediately began bathing himself. He thought he would let Sugar sleep a little while longer but she woke up soon after he had. The two of them talked while bathing.
“Are you hungry?” Blackie asked her.
“Yes, very,” Sugar replied.
“I will see what I can find for us to eat,” Blackie said. “You work on what we are going to do about all of this.”
Blackie was the better hunter of the two and while smart himself it was Sugar who always had the big ideas. Blackie was the brawn. He began slinking his way along the drain. Up ahead the drain connected to another drain leading to more opportunities. He was aware that he needed to be careful and pay attention to where he was going so that he would not end up getting lost in this maze. Sugar watched Blackie go for as long as she could. Eventually Blackie disappeared into the darkness. Suddenly, Sugar heard something coming from up above outside. Somebody was speaking. No. Two people were speaking. A man and a woman. Sugar perked her ears up to hear better. Of course she
could not understand a word of what they were saying to each other but she could get an idea of the kind of people they were, if they were friendly or not, by the way that they communicated. She jumped up and out of the storm drain. The man and woman were still speaking with each other. The man was carrying a dish of some kind. Sugar could smell the food. Soon the man began walking back out of sight around the house, still talking. Sugar decided to slowly approach and see what happened. She hoped for the best. Though there was snow all over the lawn she could find some better spots to step on occasionally. Sometimes she had to step right into the snow however. She was not happy about it when she had to, frequently licking her paws and shaking her head as she did so. Sugar made it to the driveway which was shoveled thankfully and sat down , watching as the woman and man continued speaking to each other. The man was preparing to go feed something, she was sure of that. What exactly he was preparing to feed she was not sure. The food did not smell great but at least it was something. The woman had a screen door partially opened and was speaking to the man through it. All of a sudden there was a growling sound! Sugar was startled! She looked to where the sound had come from and saw another cat looking out a side window at her from inside the house. The man and woman turned and saw her!
“Hey sweety!” the man said to her. “It's okay, c'mere!” He held two fingers out to her and slowly approached. The cat inside the house snarled again and Sugar took off, running back down the driveway! The woman looked on, startled. Sugar ran across the front lawn, no longer caring about the snow. As she neared the storm drain the man saw her as he came around the corner of the house. She looked back at him and then dropped down into the drain.
“Kitty kitty!” the man called again but Sugar was afraid. She did not dare come out.
As Sugar heard the man calling, “Kitty kitty!” she lay down on the bed controlling her breathing and waiting for Blackie to return. Hopefully he had gotten hold of a couple of mice to eat.
Blackie came out of the darkness of the pipes about a half an hour later. He saw Sugar lying on the bed. He had a mouse hanging from his mouth and set it down in front of the bed.
“You okay?” Blackie asked.
“Yes. I am fine,” Sugar replied.
“You do not look fine,” Blackie said, cuddling up close to her.
“When you left to hunt for food I heard people talking. They live in the house where we are, a man and a woman. I went to investigate.”
“Oh!” Blackie said, bringing a second mouse over to the bed. “And how did that go?”
“Well,” Sugar began. “I felt that the people were nice people,” she said. “The man even tried to coax me back out of the drain.”
“Okay,” Blackie replied. “So why did you run into the drain then?”
“Because of this other cat that was inside the house,” Sugar said, chewing at her mouse. “It had startled me,” she explained. “I just got scared and ran.”
“The cat is just being territorial,” Blackie said. “We would do the same if we were in the same place that it is.”
“I suppose so,” Sugar said.
The two of them talked more as they enjoyed their dinner. After their stomachs settled they had decided that they would try approaching the house again.
After they had eaten Blackie and Sugar napped off and on throughout the night. They had decided to wait to approach the house and people until the next day. Sugar woke up and looked over at Blackie. He was still sleeping. She decided that she would stretch her legs for a bit and jumped up to the edge of the storm drain. Sugar looked up at the stars and stretched, then decided to check out the house a little. The driveway sloped upward from the street. It was a long driveway. She walked it until she reached the back door of the house and sniffed the door, getting an idea of the people here from the scents. All of a sudden a white dog appeared from behind the small fence at the head of the driveway. The dog barked, startling Sugar! She was about to run when the dog said, “Who are you? You do not need to run.”
“I am Sugar,” she replied.
“Nice to meet you!” the dog said. “I am Stardust! But you can call me Star!” The dog jumped around suddenly, full of energy.
“I am with a friend,” Sugar said, amused at the dog jumping around full of energy. “His name is Blackie.”
“Blackie!” the dog replied with a smile. “Blackie and Sugar!” The dog's tail wagged back and forth. Sugar could tell that she was a very friendly dog indeed.
“Are the people here nice, Star?” Sugar asked, approaching carefully. “They seem like nice people.”
“They are very nice people!” Stardust said. “If you want to get spoiled....,” suddenly she sneezed. Sugar jumped! “.....this is the place to be!” Star finished, shaking her head back and forth. She looked up at Sugar and began dancing around again.
“Well okay then!” Sugar said. “Blackie and I are thinking of trying to move in and own them.”
“I am confident that the two of you would be most welcome!” Star replied with a smile.
“See you tomorrow, Star!” Sugar called back over her shoulder as she walked down the driveway. “And thank you!”
“You are welcome!” Stardust said. “I look forward to the two of you joining our family! Tell Blackie hello for me!” Star turned in circles with excitement as she watched Sugar walk back to the storm drain.
“I will!” Sugar called back to Stardust. “Funny dog,” she said to herself. She jumped back down into the storm drain. Blackie was still sleeping, his left paw twitching.
'Having a running dream,' Sugar thought to herself as she watched Blackie sleep. She curled up next to him and went back to sleep.
The sun woke Sugar up in the morning, shining down into the storm drain. Blackie was sitting, looking at her.
“What?” Sugar asked him with a yawn.
“Hungry?” Blackie asked.
“Yes, starving,” Sugar replied.
“There is a bowl of food up on the manhole cover along with a bowl of fresh water,” Blackie said.
“Really?” Sugar asked.
“Yes, really,” Blackie replied.
Sugar stretched and sat up.
“They must be from the people,” Sugar said.
“My thoughts exactly,” Blackie replied. “Go eat and then we will go up to their door.”
“I wonder if Star told them something,” Sugar said, looking back at Blackie momentarily as she prepared to make her jump.
“Who is Star?” Blackie asked, turning to look at her.
Sugar filled him in about Star and then jumped up to eat breakfast.
After Sugar had her fill the two of them started walking up the long, sloped driveway of the house. Suddenly the man and the woman came out of the back door and started approaching a car. Sugar and Blackie immediately froze, not sure what to expect. The people had not noticed them yet. The man opened the passenger door of the car and the woman began getting into it when something caught her eye. It was Sugar approaching a little more.
“What are you doing!” Blackie hissed at Sugar.
“Hey kitty!” the woman said to Sugar with a smile. “C'mere!” She held her fingers out like she had food. Blackie shook his head as Sugar fell for the “have food” trick but then he slowly worked his way ahead as well.
“Oh! Look hon, here's the other!” the man said as he walked around the open car door. He squatted down, a little ways away from Blackie, also doing the food trick.
'Please,' thought Blackie rolling his eyes but then he gave in and trotted over to the man. The four of them sat in the driveway where it was dry. A lot of petting and purring took place. Blackie and Sugar looked at each other with a smile, rubbing their heads together. In the back yard Stardust barked, letting Blackie and Sugar know how happy she was that they were now part of the family.
“It sounds like Stardust is pretty excited too,” the woman said, petting Sugar.
“It does indeed!” replied the man as he pet Blackie.
In an upstairs window the cat, Alexander, looked down on what was happening in the driveway.
Blackie felt the vibes and looked up at Alexander's scowling face looking down at him from the window.
'I sure hope he comes around,' Blackie thought to himself as he tried a smile at Alexander.
Alexander seemed to show a small smile back at Blackie. At least Blackie thought that maybe he had anyway.
The End
--msl2024
