Cat Snips - a Short Story Collection by Cat Johnson Read Free Page B

and
swatted her leg.
    Spinning around in a happy dance
when she bent to peer at him, he watched a fall of long reddish-brown
hair swing over her one shoulder. He purred loudly and rubbed his
face against the bars of the cage, trying to look as cute as
possible. She smiled and her green eyes lit up.
    “ Hello, there. Aren’t
you handsome.” She stuck a finger between two metal bars and
rubbed the side of his face. She was good at rubbing and got just the
right spot. He
didn’t even have to pretend to purr now.
    Then she stood up and walked
away. He reached out again and swiped, but missed her leg. Pressing
his face up against the cage, he tried to see where she was going.
His head and his hopes fell as she went out the door and let it slam
shut behind her.

    Belinda walked to the front desk
of the shelter and tried to quiet the voice in her head. Max didn’t
like cats. It was a big responsibility owning a pet. If she adopted a
cat, it would be alone all day while she was at work.
    But then she thought of all the
nights and weekends she was home alone while Max was away. Wouldn’t
a warm fuzzy body snuggled up in her lap make her feel better? It
wasn’t exactly a substitute for sex, but since she hadn’t
been getting a whole lot of that lately, she was grasping at anything
right now. And that last cat she had looked at, she just felt a
connection to him. He’d actually reached right out and picked
her, rather than her picking him.
    The volunteer behind the desk
looked up from her papers and smiled. “Can I help you?”
    Belinda smiled back, her decision
made. “Yes. There’s a big black cat in the bottom cage.
I’d like to adopt him, please.”

Chapter Three
    “ Hey, you want to come over
tonight and hang out?” Belinda filled the cat bowl with food
and water while cradling the phone on one shoulder.
    Donna hesitated. “Is Max
home?”
    “ No.” Belinda sighed.
It was extremely trying that her friends didn’t like her
boyfriend. “He’s away at a trade show…again. But
there’s a new man in my life I’d like you to meet.”
    She smiled down at the black cat
as he somehow managed to purr and eat at the same time.
    “ Really? Who?” Donna
sounded much too excited.
    “ Relax, it’s just a
cat I adopted. But I think I love him already. He’s so sweet.”
As if on cue, he left his food bowl and came to rub against her legs
again. Belinda hadn’t had someone’s undivided attention
in a very long time. It was nice, even if it was only a cat.
    “ I’d love to come
over and meet him. I’ll call Grace and pick up a bottle of
wine.”
    “ Great, and I’ve got
a pot of sauce on the stove and fresh pasta from the market down the
street.” Belinda stepped over the cat to give the sauce a quick
stir.
    Belinda ran a vacuum over the
carpet and had just lit some candles and set the table when the
doorbell rang.
    Her friends descended upon her
apartment bearing wine and fresh filled cannolis. No wonder they had
been friends forever. They enjoyed the same things.
    They sat down for a relaxed meal.

    Amidst a whirlwind of talking,
laughing, drinking and eating, the man turned cat sat beneath the
coffee table and just observed. It was times like this that made him
realize the difference between men and women. Three men would eat and
drink together, yes, but without all of this chatter. It was enough
to give a person, or even a cat, a headache.
    Sure, in the old days, he had
enjoyed sitting around a fire and sharing manly companionship.
Sometimes they told tales of battle or even raunchy stories about
women they’d bedded. Even more recently he’d enjoyed
hiding in a pub, watching a game of sport on the TV. Sometimes the
men would raise their voices in a cheer, if a specific play warranted
it. But never did they all speak at the same time, and so quickly and
loudly too.
    How did these women even listen
to each other when they never shut up long enough? It was just like
that talk show that one of his past owners