Not in America Anymore

Malachi awoke with a start. She glanced around the room, hearing the familiar sound of the breathing of one of her human companions. The white kitty with a black bib yawned, stretched, and then settled back down to sleep. Suddenly, she was roughly pushed off the bed, falling on the floor with a thunk, the covers soon following. Meow! she called indignantly. she thought gingerly. She dug herself out from under the covers and fled from the room. She skipped the open can of cat food and headed straight outside. She hopped through the picket fence and walked over to the neighboring house. she thought as she trotted up to the door. She had her head halfway through the pet door when she heard a forlorn meow from the side walk. Huh? She immediately stopped her present course and ventured toward the side walk. With a hesitant step she looked through the metal gate and watched a cat being carried off in in a cat carrier in the direction of the airport. A cat-napping! she screeched, scrambling through the gate and running after the cat. Being a kitten she was barely able to keep the fast walking human in sight but was able to rest when the figure stopped to call a cab. Malachi jumped up onto the bumper of the taxi and rested her weary paws for a few minutes. When they reached the airport the cat jumped off and followed the cat carrier as best she could. She hopped on the conveyor belt with the carrier and started alarms sounding all around the airport. Malachi gave a screech, jumped off the belt, and started running down a moving side walk but stopped short when a man in a blue uniform jumped in front of her and brought a net down around her. She hissed and clawed at the man who held her discreetly at arm’s distance. What do we do with this . . . thing? the guard asked his companions. Just toss it out, another shrugged. The others seemed to agree with the man. The guard with the net walked to the nearest exit, which happened to lead out to the runway, and unceremoniously dumped her out onto the ground. Malachi was unprepared as the ground rushed up to meet her and she immediately flipped around and landed on her feet. After gathering her wits about her she spotted the carrier sliding down along a belt and ran after it. She jumped onto the belt that carried her up into the belly of the airplane. HELLO?! she called, jumping onto a package to avoid some oncoming pieces of luggage. She walked along the package, eying the ground carefully. In the distance she vaguely heard a man call, That’s it. Close ’er up! The cargo bay began to move as the doors closed up the plane. Uh-oh, Malachi whispered as she realized what happened. She was tossed about as everything began to move. Finally, when everything settled down, she scrambled out from under a few light cardboard boxes and shook her head. Ugh. She wrinkled her nose and began searching for the cat-napped cat. Hello? she called, but was drowned out by the starting of the planes engines. Not again! She jumped up onto a metal ledge and struggled to find a safe place to keep herself until everything had somewhat settled down to normal. She tried vainly to hold onto her perilous perch but finally fell down when the plane started to move forward. She left over each piece of baggage as they came flying at her and when the plane finally straightened out several pieces fell forward, almost squashing her. Malachi was in the front corner of the cargo bay, fur on end and claws extended. Her eyes darted about as she watched for any more oncoming pieces of luggage. Then, deciding that it was safe she resumed her search for the cat. She finally found the sick tabby and yelped with surprise, HEY! I found you! Hold on, I’ll get you out of here in a jiffy. She tugged relentlessly at the lock but had to stop and rest. What’re you doing? the tabby called. Hey, don’t worry. I’ll get you outta here. Stop it, it demanded weakly. I’m not cat-napped. I’ve been bought and paid for. See? The tabby reached around her neck to show Malachi the license. Jeezlepeetz! Then I ran after you, jumped into a plane to who-know’s-where, all for nothing???!!! Malachi flopped back onto her haunches and gave an exasperated sigh. Eventually, she turned to the sick cat and asked, Then why were you making such a fuss? Travel always makes me sick. Then, as to prove a point, the tabby turned around and hacked. Well, that’s just great! I’m stuck on an airplane going someplace where I don’t want to with a cat-napped cat who isn’t cat-napped!! She paced around the carrier in a huff. Please don’t walk in circles. You’re makin’ me sick. Opps. Sorry. Malachi flopped down in front of the cage and said, So . . . tell me about yourself . . . As the cargo bay opened Malachi used her magical powers to quietly disappear unnoticed by the airline crews. She yawned and began her search to find out where she was. stating quietly, I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore. Voices sounded all around her and the dark, foreboding clouds that covered the earth didn’t look like a good sign to her. Her muscles tensed as she sniffed the air and hissed, A storm’s heading this way. She scampered off into the airport and looked and saw a huge sign that said WELCOME TO GATWICK. Oh no, Malachi whispered. I’m in England. After recovering from her shock she decided to find a cab, although not one of the easiest for a kitten, and get out of there. She ran outside and carefully listened to some conversations to see where different cabs were going to. She heard one mention London and quickly hopped, unbeknownst to the other passenger, into the cab. Catching a quick cat nap during the ride she immediately woke up when the car door opened and hopped out into the rainy streets of London. She quickly surveyed her surroundings and decided that this had to be a high class part of London. She jumped up under the overhang of an apartment and shook most of the water off of her. Suddenly, the jet lag of the unexpected flight and the excitement ofthe day finally got to Malachi and she laid down on the front porch and fell asleep.

To be continued...