Mroww...prrrr...mrowww...catnip?...CATNIP!!!..
The big gray and white cat rolled over again and sniffed
Catnip...everywhere he looked. Had he died and gone to
Kitty Heaven or what? Wait a minute....there was
another smell here...a familiar smell. One he hadn't
experienced for quite awhile. He stood and looked
around. There..just visible above the catnip bush.....
the tip of a gray striped tail
"Daiquiri? Is that you Daq? Come out where I can see you."
As the catnip bushes parted, a big gray tiger striped cat
strolled into view. "Hello Kahlua, it's been a long time.
I've been waiting here for you. And your correct about dying
and going to Kitty Heaven...that's exactly where we are."
"But what are we doing here? Our work isn't done yet. We still
have people to take care of." Kahlua took another mouthful
of catnip "Not that I'm complaining, mind you. But who'll
look after our family?"
Flopping and rolling in the catnip, Daiquiri purred and
stretched. "The rest of the guys are still there. They'll take
care of them. But you and me, well our job is done down there,
after all Our people are here now and we still have to keep an
eye on them."
"What do you mean?" Kahlua asked. "Karl was still there when
I left. What happened? And what about Robin and Jan? I thought
I was supposed to take care of her at least." Standing up,
Daiquiri looked at Kahlua. "You could never get it through
your thick head that you were there for Karl and Billy,
could you?"
You and I were just there for them. They didn't know it of
course but we were their Guardian Cats. Robin finally got one
oF his own....that ding-a-ling Omega, of all the cats!
And of course Spuds is picking up where you left off. Funny,
Spuds alwayus thought he was there for Karl. And I'm sure if
Karl had known, he would have said that Spuds was all his own.
But we didn't want to be too obvious about it now, did we?"
"Okay, so Omega is taking care of Robin, but who's looking
after her? I know we all shared her, but who's her primary
guardian?" Daiquiri sat down again and sniffed at the catnip.
"Why Jim is the primary and Smokey is the secondary of course.
Fluf thinks he should be the primary, but he still has a lot to
learn about guarding people
The rest of the guys are still in training and wouldn't know
how to act alone if they had to. Some of them are making real
progress though. Whiskey and Marguerita will be primary cat
guardians before too long now. Thumper has quite a ways to go...
but he's still pretty young and it is his first time around.
Chelsea is getting there and should be ready pretty soon. If
only people knew what cats had to go through for them
Kahlua rolled atounmd in the catnip for a minute, then sat up.
"Yeah, it's too bad they don't know about the Guardian Cats.
They think they all have Guardian Angels.......What a laugh!!!!
What do they think angels are, anyway? Still, you never answered
my question....what happened after I left? With Karl, I mean?"
"He went back down South and got into a car wreck. I tried to
tell you to wait awhile before you left, but it was meant to
be I guess." Daiquiri started to walk away, still talking.
"You know that he and Billy are both here, don't you?
And they'd both like to see you. Come on,
and you can tell them how everyone is doing
Course, Karl probably knows more about what's happening now,
since he left a year after you did. But Billy needs to know how
it's going down there. Karl can fill you in on what happened after
you left. And Kahlua? Kitty Heaven means more than just catnip
you know. It means petting and chin scratching and laps and all
the cream you can hold and mice to play with and fireplaces to
sleep in front of, all kinds of nice stuff." Kahlua sat down and
looked around him. "Wow, and to think I wanted to stay there!
But I still worry about the two we left behind, I hope they'll be
alright. But let's go... I want to see Billy and Karl again.
Lead the way brother."
The two big cats strolled side byu side toward where the two
humans they were responsible for waited for them. Two Guardian Cats,
still looking out for the hunmans thet had been assigned to ages
before. And elsewhere, the other Guardian Cats still watched over
the rest of the humans...without the humans knowing of course,
After all, people had Guardian Angels didn't they? Except the
real Guardians had fur and tails instead of wings and halos.
Epilogue.....
The huge white German Shepherd looked around her and wondered
where she was. She could see clearly again and she could hear.
Her old bones didn't ache anymore and it felt like she was growing
younger in both body and spirit. She sniffed the fresh air and
picked up the hint of a familiar scent. Daiquiri and Kahlua?????
Those two upstarts? She thought she'd seen the last of them years
ago. Oh well it was time to go back to work again. The cats
always had thought they were so great......just because they were
Guardian Cats and got to look out for the humans. But who did >
they think looked out for the cats?????
Then Heidi, the beautiful white dog, started off across the
field of wildflowers, in search of her two unsuspecting feline
charges
JRP 1998
