The Cupboard Cat

Hi, my name is Sunny. I’m known as the cupboard cat. It’s a long story.

This is me. Aren’t I elegant.

The first thing I remember is sitting with another kitten in a prison with bars. I found out later that I was in a cage in a pet shop. There was another kitten there with me. She became my best friend. One day a lady came into the shop and decided that she would take me and the other kitten home with her. That’s when I got my name, Sunny and the other kitten got her name, Misty.

We lived in a house with a little girl and a woman. They were nice to us. I liked the little girl and used to sit on her bed. I remember us sitting on the bed staring at things that ordinary people couldn’t see.

Life was good for a while. I had Misty to protect me. She was a brave little cat and when another cat came into our garden, Misty would chase them away.

Then everything started to changed. We moved. Strange smells. Strange places. Strange animals I didn’t know. Lucky, Misty was still there and so was the little girl. Misty kept chasing the bad cats away, and I started to feel a bit more safe.

Then, I don’t know what happened. But the little girl went away and never came back again. This is where all the horrible things started to happen

The next thing I knew we were living in another house. Misty was there with me and my woman but there were lots more people. 2 middle sized kids and another woman. They had a nasty cat who kept beating Misty up and another creature that smelled funny. It wasn’t another cat. The humans called her Baby. I found out later she was something called a dog. I’d never seen one before. Misty knew what to do. Hiss and warn. Then scratch. I hid under the bed.

The whole house was scary. The bed smelled of my woman, but no more smells of the little girl. I don’t know how long we stayed there. It seemed like a long, long time. Misty was very brave. She went outside and fought with the other cat. That cat was one mean cat!

Things sort of pottered along for a while with me hiding under the bed and getting cuddles at night when it was safe and I was alone with my woman. Next thing I knew there were boxes all over the place again and my heart sank. What was happening this time? Where were we going? What would my life be like?

We moved away from the nasty cat and the thing called a dog. Just the three of us. Me, Misty and my woman. This was scary. Life wasn’t supposed to be like this. I don’t like moving. But it was better without the nasty cat and the dog thing. I did like this house better than the last one, cause it was just us.

Next thing I knew, there were those boxes again. Now what was happening? I hid under the bed again. They locked me in one room and when they let me out again it was to put me in a cage and take me in one of these moving things that humans have. I was sooo scared. Going in these moving things that humans called cars always means something bad is going to happen. Either we went to the place that smelled of all sorts of strange creatures and they hurt you, jabbed you with sharp things or cut holes in you, or another house. I almost prefer the smelly place I think.

We moved into another new house. Me, Misty and my woman still. She still smelled the same which was good and so did her bed. The nice thing about this house was the cupboards. Nice high ones. My woman put some nice baskets in the cupboards and I lived in the cupboard.

Soon after we moved in, another creature came to live with us. I know now she is called a dog cause she told me. That’s how I found out that Baby was a dog. She told me her name was Ally. I didn’t like her at first. But she seemed a bit scared too. Misty and I hissed at her and she left us alone. Gradually we started to make friends.

Then Misty went away and never came back. I stayed in the cupboard. Ally came sniffing around the cupboard occasionally, but I ignored her. Nothing felt safe any more.

The next thing I knew, there was another cat living in the house. She told me her name was Purzah. She was awful. She prowled around the house, made the most awful noises, scratching at the windows wanting to get out. She told me that she needed a man in her life. One day she got out. She disappeared too. But Purzah came back and the next thing I knew there were 4 more little creatures wandering around the house. Ally thought they were great. I didn’t like them at all.

I stayed in the cupboard.

These four little creatures took over our house. But they weren’t big enough to get into my cupboards. They were pretty useless. They needed feeding all the time.

Gradually the kittens grew up and two of them left home. Two stayed living with us. They were called Harry and Benson. I stayed in the cupboard.

Over the next little while, Purzah left and never returned, and so did Benson, one of the kittens. I didn’t miss them at all. That left us with Harry, the cat and Ally the dog, and of course my woman.

I like Ally the dog. She plays gentle with me. We have visitors who let me sit on their lap and they pat me. I sleep with my woman and she pets me at night time. I don’t like Harry. He’s mean to me. But I just ignore him most of the time. Life is okay now. But I still like my cupboard.

Sunny the Cat

Saturday, 17 May 2008