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Introducing Wonder Part 1
By Roalee

“We really should take the kitty with us.”

“That creature can survive without people for a few weeks. She won’t miss us at all.”

I vaguely noticed as my pets gazed at me, the woman with concern, the man with contempt. He scowled at me, picked up the matching suitcases sitting on the floor and stomped out the door. The female approached quietly. Lifting me tenderly, she set me outside on the porch. Although I knew the reason that they wanted to leave me behind, I waited patiently as she tried to explain. She crouched as low as she could without actually getting on her stomach. To make it easier on her, I jumped onto the porch swing. Now we could talk face to face. It seemed to make my pet feel better about abandoning me.

“Sorry Wonder, we’re going on a very long vacation and you can’t possibly accompany... well, I won’t expect for you to understand, so I’ll leave you now and hope you can fend for yourself. You are a cat after all.” She scratched me behind my ears and straightened. As she made her way down the steps, I meowed, knowing how sorry she was to leave me. I wanted to reassure her that it was fine for them to go. The lady waved sadly and entered the waiting car. The man gave me one last frown before facing forward. They drove away, leaving skid marks and dust to mark their exit.

For a while, I lay down comfortably and took a nap. The afternoon passed as I lounged lazily in the warm sunshine.
******************************
“So Wonder, I hear that your humans have left. What are you going do about food and shelter and stuff like that?” A cat of different colors, black, brown, gray, and white, padded up and interrupted my dreaming.

“Spots, it is nice to see you, too,” I said with a ferocious yawn and a long stretch. “Did you really come all the way from across the street to ask me that?”

“Yes,” he sniffed, “I was just wondering, that’s all. The last time I saw a cat left outside, I saw her get taken away.” He shivered, remembering that horrible day. “I never saw her again.”

Spots was being silly, as usual. He didn’t seem to see how obviously I couldn’t get caught.

“Spots, honey, didn’t you notice my new necklace?” I shook my head and jangled the new identification tags attached to my bright red plastic collar.

“A...collar,” he said disdainfully. Spots turned away and spat. It was very clear how much he disapproved of it.

“You must be losing you sense of sight and smell if you didn’t notice it earlier. Yes, a collar,” I said firmly. “Besides, you have one too. Actually,” I said as I touched it with and ivory claw, “I think it makes me look better. It accentuates my eyes.”

When I had first gotten collared, I studied myself in the mirror, trying to find something good about it. It was definitely a change of color from the black collars I wore before. They were usually hidden in my dark fur, to my relief, so most others couldn’t see them. Then, the woman had bought me a new collar. It horrified me so much that I hid to avoid receiving the too bright belt of plastic. Not that I hadn’t hidden before whenever they wanted to put on a new collar, but really, red? They finally wrestled it on me and came out scratched and bit, but triumphant.

“Oh, how beautiful it looks on her! Red against black is so elegant,” my female pet sighed. “Now the authorities can see she has owners.”

The man was still dabbing his wounds with alcohol, winching every time he did. “Stupid cat,” he muttered. I hissed in his general direction and sauntered away to lick my rumpled fur back into place.

I smiled to myself and suddenly snapped to the present as Spots’ voice broke the silence. Disbelievingly he said, “You really like that thing?”

I slunk past him, into the thick grass of the front yard. My fur and the shadows mingled and I was virtually invisible.

“That collar gives you away and causes your eyes to seem even brighter,” Spots said in an acid tone. “How are you going hunt like that?”

Exasperated, I left him to his thoughts.
******************************
The night was cool and as my paws left the turf, the coldness of concrete made me shiver. I strolled towards a house where an elderly lady habitually set out a plate of table scraps and a big bowl of milk. I also knew that I strolled towards potential trouble. Many of the Strays used her shed as a hangout.

“So, the snob has come to visit, has she? And look, she openly shows she needs humans to care for her.” A thin, dirty, white cat sneered and jumped down lightly as I approached. Her eyes slitted and her hackles were slightly raised. This old queen was definitely the leader of this bunch, but I didn’t let her intimidate me. And the last thing I wanted was to fight.

“Oh, blow it out your ears. I just came for the food.”

Her ears flicked and she blinked in surprise as I went ahead and ate some of the leftover chicken and drank a bit of the milk. Rows of cat eyes lining the shed wall watched as I began to saunter away. The white cat shook her head in amazement.

“Wait a second,” an anonymous voice called softly, “what do they call you?”

I halted all movement and swiveled my ears, trying to decide whether to answer. I shrugged internally and called back, “They call me Wonder,” and went on my way.

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