Another story!

As I am at a loss for something interesting to tell you, as nobody seems to want to talk to me, a short serialisation of my tiniest book, Mitzy and Socks. It is a cat and dog story.




Mitzy was terrified, she was well and truly lost. This labyrinth of small tunnels was just big enough for the small animal to push through; she even had to crawl in places. There was no light. How she missed the light! Even in the darkest night there was light from a street lamp or a bright moon.

Her mind wandered as she curled up and shivered herself into a form of rest. How long had she wandered these tunnels? Time had no meaning to the dog, other than eating the late meal before sleep and waking to a full bowl of breakfast food. She had grown little from the time she arrived in the household, a ‘miniature’ they called her. Whatever that meant. She only knew she was loved and petted and taken for long exciting walks on the hills whenever she brought the leash out. They took the leash off when they reached the acres of scrubland that held so many exciting scents. And those wonderfully enticing holes that the rabbits and other creatures called their homes. Those very holes had proven to be horrible, no food, no light, only a little water that leaked down from the constant rain above. She could feel the earth shudder at the impact and shuddered with it.

I want to go home, she thought, home to the warm fire, the food bowl, and – dear Lord forgive her – that awful cat that once made her life a misery. He called it fun and cajoled her to ‘get a life’. His purpose in life was to annoy her and get away with as much mischief as he possibly could think of. Well, a small smile twitched the pert mouth as she remembered - that was until the day he had visited the vet’s office. That once she had been sorry for him, seeing the spitting and desperately clawing creature being forced into the small cage was a heart rending sight. But he was mellowed on his return. There was something different about him. She could almost like him now. His company would make this dark bearable at least.

She woke with yet another shiver, a small rivulet of water was seeping into her now wet curl space. She had to move further. She did not want to move, the space had become a refuge, even a harsh one, but the thought of walking those tunnels again was even worse. She drank enough of the drips to slake her dry frame. But she was so hungry, and so weak.

She had howled for as long as she was able to begin with, but now could only raise a bare single and very feeble bark. She remembered doing this in outraged fury many years ago as the humans measured it. But then she was well fed and the feeling of being unable to raise a sound had quickly vanished. Yet this time she thought she heard an echo, not her own feeble whine but a strong cat voice! That sounded like Socks!