Amy, Trixie, and Greta sat in the screened-in porch, considering the back yard in unified silence.
A sparrow alighted on the mulberry sapling shooting up from the wide crack in the patio. They watched it with rapt attention for a minute or so until it flew away.
Amy was the first to speak. “I’m worried about them. She’s so mean to him.”
Greta replied, “She’s nice to me. She loves me.”
“That’s beside the point. Our relationship with them and their relationship with each other are different things entirely.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Ok, so they give us affection and sustenance, right? They play with us and are pretty good at making sure we’re happy. And we appreciate them for that. Right?”
“Yeah.”
“But they seem to hate each other, don’t you think? They fight all the time. Always screaming and storming off. Sometimes he leaves for a long time.”
“It’s not our fault, is it?”
“No, of course not. This is between them.”
They watched a green caterpillar for a while as it slowly scaled the wooden fence.
Trixie spoke, having considered the topic privately at length. “If they split up, I think we should go with him. He’s the one that feeds us and cleans up after us. She rarely does either. Plus she brings strangers over sometimes when he’s gone for the day. She’s not a good person.”
Greta looked worried. Amy, always cool, was skeptical.
“It’s not like we really have any say in the matter. I don’t know what will happen, if they’ll break up or whatever else. It seems pretty clear he’s in the worse position, though, so at least let’s do our best to be nice to him. He deserves better.”
Just then, the front door unlocked and the man about whom they had been talking walked in. Amy, Trixie, and Greta ran to him, purring as they wove around his ankles, hoping to show him that he was loved.
Prompt for Day 2: Write about a man who owns at least three cats
This is part of a writing exercise done with limited available time, so this is essentially a rough draft. Please excuse typos, etc.
326 Words
