Ready for this week’s prompt?
Your favorite pet jumps up onto the sofa next to you and says—with a rather distinguished accent—”We need to talk.”
So yeah. I started a fiction meme. You can find the prompts at Romantic Encounters. You have one week to write your story before the next prompt appears. There MAY be a prize for the writer who contributes the most within a certain time period. *wink-wink-nudge-nudge* I like being vague.
In the meantime, here is my story. Yo.
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Carly watched her cat, Marlin, delicately sniff at his dinner before swishing his tail back and forth in satisfaction. He turned away from the meal, as if to say, “You’re simply not good enough for me to consume” before casting her a sidelong glance of approval.
She could hear his deep-throated purr of pure pleasure from her position at the kitchen table.
It was only 6:30 in the evening, but it was so pitch black outside that all she could see was her reflection in the window. She lifted her mug of chicken broth and took a cautious sip of the piping hot brew.
She idly watched the white dots of snow hit her window and explode into tiny shards of delicate ice crystals before gently sliding down and out of sight. It was a beautiful, peaceful winter night – she only wished she had someone to share it with.
She exhaled a long, depressed sigh and lifted her mug to take another sip.
A gray and white blob of fur jumped onto the table next to her. She jumped in surprise, spilling a bit of the broth onto her housecoat.
“What the …” Her eyes slid up from the stain and settled onto her cat. “Marlin, what in the world are you doing up here? You know you’re not supposed …”
“We need to talk,” the cat purred out, his voice soft and smooth, like each movement of his body as he crept up on prey.
Carly blinked, opened her mouth and then blinked again. “Did you just talk?”
The cat hung his head and sighed. “Humans are so slow sometimes.” He looked back up at her, the dark black slits in his amber eyes dilated slightly from his agitation. “I need your advice.”
“My …” she swallowed, blinked several more times before continuing. “Advice?”
Marlin’s eyes narrowed until they were nothing more than small, horizontal lines in his face. “Try and keep up, won’t you?”
“Try and –“ she began before Marlin hissed at her. She blinked, cleared her throat and forced her brain to focus … on her talking cat.
Her cat was talking to her!
“Sorry.” She murmured. “What’s the problem?” She felt like laughing. Here she was, having a real-live conversation with her cat. She bit back a smile. This was the most fun she’d had in quite some time. Who cared if it was crazy?
She just hoped no one happened to look in her window and saw her talking to her cat, especially the cute carpenter that lived in the house behind her.
“I’m having feline problems.”
“Oh?” She tried not to act too surprised. She didn’t really know what to expect for her cat to ask her, but somehow, it wasn’t about cat relationships. “I’m assuming we’re talking about a female cat here?”
“Well yes, of course!” The cat hissed at her again and she put up a hand in defense.
“Hey. I don’t judge.”
The cat lifted a paw and waved an exasperated swipe at her.
“Focus,” he said, “we don’t have much time.”
“Why don’t we have much time?”
“Because the feline in question comes out to prowl at exactly,” he glanced over his shoulder to look at the clock. “Precisely 30 minutes.”
“You can tell time?” she blinked again and this time, she allowed a small chuckle to escape her lips.
“So, I like guy cats and I can’t tell time – you think I’m a gay idiot, don’t you.”
“What? NO!” she said. Small spots of red appeared on her cheeks. “It’s just that …”
“No worries,” Marlin said. “Here’s my question – how do I impress her?”
“Impress her?” She really didn’t mean to repeat everything her cat said to her, but she was having a hard time accepting the fact that she was having a conversation with her pet.
Marlin’s ears went back – a clear sign he was annoyed.
“Sorry, sorry. Impress her.” She thought a moment. “It’s not like you can give her flowers or anything.” She thoughtfully tapped on her finger and Marlin suddenly bristled.
“Right! A gift! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Where’s that mouse fill with cat nip that you let me chew on once in a while?”
“You’re going to re-gift her something? Don’t you think that’s rather tacky?”
“Hey, it’s not like I have many resources here.”
“True. Sorry again. Okay fine, I think you pushed it under the stove, that last time I saw it. Can you reach it or do you need me to grab a –“
“Nope. I can get it. And hey, thanks for the advice.”
She laughed. “I can’t believe you asked me for relationship advice. It’s not like I’ve had any sort of relationship to speak of in the past 14 months or so.”
“Right. You really should do something about that.” Marlin jumped off the table and knocked his water dish over.
She jumped again and found herself still staring at the window. The snow was falling harder now and she could see a fine layer of it covering the banister of her back porch.
She blinked in confusion.
“Wait. What just happened?”
She looked down at Marlin, who had consumed all of his dinner and was now busy licking his paws in lingering satisfaction.
“We … didn’t just have a conversation, did we?” She addressed the cat.
Marlin meowed in response before turning away from her and exiting the kitchen.
She sighed. “I need to get a life.”
Write From Karen 