CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT

by Danna Shirley
Writing assignment
I knew my neighbor, Johnson, didn’t like my cat,

            but did he have to kill her?

Peaches was a Persian with just a slight peach color down her back

but she was the cleanest, softest, most beautiful feline I’d ever seen.

Johnson had threatened to poison her if she did her business in his garden again,

but how do you control a cat?

She had been declawed before coming to me so she couldn’t protect herself,

but I lived out in the country so I thought it was safe enough to let her roam free.

It never occurred to me that country living included stray dogs, deer, raccoons, etc.

but they were a danger to a declawed cat.

Oh, how could I have been so unaware of the threats to my sweet Peaches,

but where was she?

I searched the barn where she would chase her mice appetizers,

but no Peaches.

Then proceeded to the greenhouse where she would lay sunning herself in the corner,

but no Peaches.

I checked the cellar, another good hiding place,

but there were only corncobs and cobwebs.

I dreaded my next option of having to allege Johnson of foul play,

but it had to be done.

I rode my four-wheeler across the back forty to our adjoining properties,

but approaching his home brought much dismay.

I guess Johnson and I got off on the wrong foot when Peaches invaded his domain,

but I had to ask him about my sweet pet regardless of our poor beginning.

He wasn’t very cordial at the door,

but when he saw my distress, he softened and agreed to help me find her.

We searched his property as I had my own; barn, greenhouse, shed, stockyard,

but she was nowhere to be found.

We walked back to the house and my four-wheeler,

but we both stopped short when we heard a faint meow under his porch.

He broke off one of the rails over the crawl space and shone a light under the house,

but nothing could be seen, only heard.

We whistled and coaxed Peaches out of the darkness,

but she did not come alone.

She must have been cattin’ around with the Dark Knight,

because along with her came a mixture of white, black, tan, and gray kittens.

Curiosity didn’t kill the cat . . . it got her pregnant!