| Now that same
crisp morning, Presence realized that he had over slept. He had wanted to get up before the day light came and be on his way. He realized that he was hungry, so he started to look for
some breakfast. He walked past his friend Stinky's window and peeked in, there was Stinky, sleeping by a large, glowing, warm looking place.  He was about to go on when he noticed a small piece of meat on the porch. Sometimes Stinky was able to sneak out some food for Presence.'Thank you, Stinky,' he said to himself. He must have known the Presence had decided to go find this place they had talked about last night. Presence finished his meal, washed his face, pawed the snow as a thank you, and went on his way. He started off in the direction the cold winds were blowing, thats what Bonzai told him to do, and went out of town. On the outskirts of the village was a glorious house that Presence had never seen before. 'Is this it?' he said to himself as he looked around. 'I thought it was farther away,' Presence decided this was a good time for a nap, he looked around, saw a nice tree with branches that came to the ground. He'd check this place out later.  About 20 winks later, he woke up to some strange noises. He poked his head out and saw a human male walking towards him, carrying a tree on his back. The male was going towards the house, making a funny noise with his mouth. Presence breathed a sigh of relief. That was a big human! Behind him, was a smaller, heavier male human, dressed in funny clothes. This human seemed to be coming right for Presence! "Here, kitty, kitty. Come here kitty," The human stepped closer. "I won't hurt you, Bonzai told me you were coming, you must be Presence!" Shocked, Presence peeked out from under his tree, "How do you know my name? How come I can understand you? Is this the place where cats can play and eat and not be bothered?".. Presence had many more questions, but the human said "Shhhh, all your questions will be answered. If you will allow me to pick you up, I will take you inside and then everything will make sense to you!" Presence was skeptical at first, but being a cat, naturally, his curiousity got the best of him, so he allowed the human to pick him up, and carry him indoors. What wonderful smells!!There were all kinds of things for kitties to do! Things to climb on, textured poles to scratch, soft pillows, etc. This was kitty heaven! But Presence was confused. He thought that the place was much farther to the colder places, not here right outside of town and he said so. "Ah, my little friend," said the human named Mr Clausin, "normally I am farther to the north but this year I had a special request and so I moved my stuff down here and hired a nice man to help me. My real name is Kris Kringle, or people call me Santa Claus. Only you know my secret though. I have to show you that people or 'humans' as you call them, are mostly nice, deserving creatures who need you as much as you need them." "I need no human," Presence meowed," nor do I like humans. They are mean creatures and I have no use for them." The Claus human stroked his fur, he had never been touched by a human like this, but he really liked it and began to purr. |
