How Runner Rescues The Little White Kitten
Gloomy, gloomy day. Runner lay in her hammock up by the
window. Rain drizzled down. It wasn't really cold, just nasty.
Florida thunder storms could be exciting, but this one was just a
miserable day and it had been that way all morning. Runner
stretched. Wiggled her whiskers, twitched her nose. Stared out
the window. Sigh..........nothing to watch out there. Guess I'll
just give a nap a try. Maybe dream about something exciting,
like....., well like........ummmmmmm.
Runner came out of her doze with a half-startled gasp. For a
second she thought she had glimpsed something move out there.
Naw, can't be. Even the birds are tucked in tight on a day like
today. Even the squirrels won't show their faces. Back to
dozing.......Yes! I did see something move, she thought. What
could be out in this mess? Runner forgot all about dreaming and
stared out the window.
She did see something move. There, under the tree. Small, can't
quite make it out.....white, so its not a squirrel or
bird........it moved again......a pup?........a kitten? Oh, dear,
I'd better go and see.
Runner jumped off her hammock and headed for her cat door. It
was closed. She sniffed around it, felt for a breeze. Nope,
closed up tight. Oh well, got to go bother the human. It's not
gonna like this. Meeoooouuuutttt, she cried. Human paid her no
never mind. Meeeeoooouuuuuut! Meooouuuutttttt Noooooowwwwwwww!.
Back and forth over the shoes she paced. Not now Runner, it said.
Runner kept up the racket. Finally the human came out from behind
the machine, a perplexed look on it's face. Runner raced to the
cat door, turned around, waited. Human said no, silly. Runner ran
back to the human and began the routine over again. The human
started yabbering about the weather and what on earth did Runner
want to go out for. Runner kept up the racket and out-talked the
human. It finally opened the door and Runner darted through it
and into the rain.
She raced towards the tree and looked for the little white
thing. She skidded to a halt just short of running the little
thing over. It was huddled in the grass, fur plastered to it's
skin, shivering. It was a tiny kitten. At first Runner didn't
know what to do. She walked around it, smelled it, put out one
paw and lightly touched it. It didn't move, except to shiver
more, and brought up it's head and looked at Runner. A white
kitten with blue eyes. Scared blue eyes. Very scared blue
eyes.
What's wrong with it, Runner thought? Where's it's family? Why
didn't it run away? Didn't it hear me running up? Runner nudged
the kitten. It didn't move. Just watched Runner with those oh so
very scared eyes. By this time Runner was getting plastered with
rain too. Even under the tree the rain soaked through. Runner
nudged it again. This time the little one stood up. Still
shivering. Runner could see that, except for being wet, cold and
uncomfortable, the little one looked ok. Runner nudged it again.
It took a few steps, hard to do when you're shivering that bad.
Runner kept talking to the little one. It didn't answer. Sheesh,
thought Runner, what's with this little guy? Or girl, 'cause
that's what she was.
Runner kept nudging the kitten towards the cat door. One nudge
at a time. With each push she would move a few steps. Covering
the distance from the tree to the door took all of five minutes.
Runner knew something was wrong with it and even if nothing were
wrong, it shouldn't be out here is this mess. So, she kept
pushing. They came to the door, but the little girl wouldn't go
through. Runner ran inside and went to get her human.
After setting up a racket that could be heard next door, Runner
finally got the human to come to the cat door. It looked outside,
saw the little one and ran to get a towel. It opened up the door,
scooped up the kitten and wrapped it up warm. Runner wanted to
see the little one, wanted to find out what was wrong with it,
but her human wouldn't let her near it. Instead, still holding
the little girl, went to the telephone. After spending some time
there, it got the car keys. Oh boy, thought Runner, we're going
for a ride! But instead of putting Runner into the carrier, the
human put the little girl in. Runner slumped, dejected. The human
kissed her on top of her head (the kiss that Runner loved best)
and told Runner to be good and mind the house. Then it left with
the kitty.
Fine thing. I get wet, find a playmate, bring it home and IT
gets all the attention. IT gets to go for a ride, in MY carrier
at that. Sadly, Runner jumped back into her hammock. Stared out
the window, watched the rain come down and pouted.
Minutes later, she heard her human come home. Runner jumped down
and ran to the door. Chirruping over and over she asked what had
happened? The human picked her up, hugged her and told her that
later she would find out. Just wait until the rain stops, ok?
Runner kept asking, the human kept saying wait, and finally the
front doorbell rang. Runner jumped up and ran to the door. She
could see that the rain had stopped! Her human opened the door
and five people stood there.
A little human with long fur was holding the little white kitty.
It's big blue eyes now looked happy, not scared. The little human
had tears in it's eyes as she looked at Runner. Thank you Runner,
it said. Thank you. The other four humans were all saying the
same thing - and all at once - to her! Her? They were thanking
her! All these humans were talking to HER! She was getting the
attention? Runner's human picked her up and held her close.
(Kissing her on top of her head, of course) The other humans had
brought stuff. They left the bags and again told Runner thank
you.
As Runner's human closed the door, Runner started to purr. The
human put Runner down and opened up the bags. It put a pile of
goodies in front of Runner. Toys, catnip, treats! Wow! And then
the human did it's best to make Runner understand that Runner was
a hero. Runner had found the little, lost, deaf kitten. It had
wandered outside through an opened door that someone forgot and
had gotten lost. It couldn't hear it's humans calling it. It
couldn't hear the little human cry.
But Runner had seen it and Runner had brought it safely inside.
Runner was a hero.
And that's how Runner rescues the little, white kitten.
This story is reprinted here with permission of the author, Karel Bergstrom. Please visit Karel's Restless Legs Syndrome support site, Nightwalkers to read more of her stories and for the story behind the stories.
