My Texas Adventure: a True Story by “Shae Hewitt”

This is me, Shae, showing my somewhat mangled left ear. (Photo by Ginny Brinkley)
This is me, Shae, showing my somewhat mangled left ear. (Photo by Ginny Brinkley)

I never liked her much, the one they called Mellie. And you can’t blame me.
It was my house first. I had lived there happily for many years, just like I owned the place, before SHE moved in. So it’s not hard to imagine my reaction when she arrived on the scene.
It was a perfectly normal reaction–what any self-respecting cat would do under those circumstances–I pissed on the wall. After all, I was Brittany’s cat first. I’d been her only cat her whole life, all 8 years of it! And now, there was Mellie? Not just a regular feline, like me, but a snooty Siamese? Taking MY spot on Brittany’s bed?
Well, anyway, after the pissing incident, my life underwent a drastic change.
The mother decided I should become an “outside” cat, explaining this to Brittany while throwing me out the door. Fortunately, I adjusted rather quickly to this new existence, and, in fact, grew to like it. I enjoyed the chance to wander the neighborhood, catching birds and even finding an occasional rat.
And I made a new friend, Rocky Raccoon, who would come by sometimes at night and I’d share my bowl of food with him.
Yeah, I was pretty happy out there, not a bad way to live.

They carted us like their luggage. (Photo by Ginny Brinkley)
They carted us like their luggage. (Photo by Ginny Brinkley)

Sometimes when Brittany would sneak me into the house, I’d realize how much I had grown to love my outside life. I’d run straight to the door, waiting to get back out. Having discovered the great outdoors, I wanted no part of the dull inside existence I used to have. That stupid Mellie could keep my spot on Brittany’s bed if it came with the confinement of four walls!
Seven years passed with me as an outside cat. “What a great way to live out my days,” I thought, growing older. I figured that it wouldn’t be long till one morning when the family came out to bring my breakfast, they’d find my lifeless body sprawled out under one of their Florida palms, and I’d be off frolicking in cat Heaven.
So, imagine my bewilderment when, one Sunday morning, a huge truck arrived in our driveway and men started loading furniture from the house onto the truck.
And then, the biggest shock came when Brittany’s mother grabbed me and put me into the car in a tiny cage, hardly big enough to turn around in. And then she stuffed a pill down my throat!
Was this it? Were they ending it for me? Things began to get fuzzy after that.
I remember a blur of car and road noises, and then I passed out. At some point, when I opened my eyes, I saw the hateful Mellie in a cage next to me! I was pretty sure then that I had died and gone to Hell!

© Copyright 2015 Ginny Brinkley

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