Captive Kitty: Prisoner Transfer

Enjoy some animal themed stories during our Adult Summer Reading Program "Paws to Read."

This month we have Captive Kitty. Captive Kitty is a mini-series about cats for cat lovers! Below is the story of our Captive Kitty. He is an evil genius and alone at the shelter. Let’s see how things play out for him.

Today’s Adventure: Prisoner Transfer

As I count it, today is the 55^th day I have been on the earth. My life started out in captivity and has continued to be such ever since.

Today though, something is amiss. The guards have been moving about frantically in an effort to sterilize everything. I think they are all insane. Just like I think it’s insane that they expect me to go to the bathroom in this little sand box. Why must I degrade myself to do so? Can I not just relieve myself anywhere?

Why the rules? Certainly someone, somewhere, made them up to spite me.

The other inmates are restless. Maybe I am the only one who doesn’t know what is going on, but when I try to initiate contact with either of my neighbors they simply turn their butt to me as if I never asked… Felines…

I have tried countless times to unlock my cell door. The holes are big enough for me to put my entire paw through, but the lock… it taunts me.  It is quite ingenious really. When the sentry comes to feed me, they have no trouble pushing down the mechanism and opening the grate. I, on the other hand, cannot apply the necessary pressure from my current position. No matter how much I scratch at it – my attempts always end in monstrous failure.

One time I got my nail stuck in the keyhole. The pain was indescribable. And I think, out of mercy, the guard pried my hand from the lock; all the while mocking me with a condescending tone, mixed with a squeaky voice. They dare to baby-talk me? I am far more advanced than they are; even with their oversized heads.

Today, though… Today is curious. The prison doors are being opened and my fellow inmates and I are left to wander the halls. There, of course, is a barrier preventing us from escaping into the outside world, but I find it strange that they are letting us have this much interaction with one another. Three fights have already broken out over territory, so I have keep my distance to this corner. Hopefully, the others will see that I am physically small, and leave me to my exile.

Time passes slowly here. Usually time rides by slowly enough in the cage, but when I am faced with physical confrontation by the other cats I can’t help but try to shrink in size. I’m a thinker, not a fighter.

An explosion of sound suddenly erupts from beyond our encampment. It is so utterly consuming that I try to position my ears as close to my head as possible. Maybe if there is little ear left exposed, my hearing capabilities will diminish. But, alas, the sound is all encompassing and I am left to wallow in anguish.

What seemed like years later, but was probably only seconds, there came a tremor through the floor. My paws could feel the vibrations, and it felt like a stampede was about to overtake our prison yard. I have lived a short life, and now it is time I accept defeat.

The prison guards stand at the gate. They are accompanied by smaller, less developed guards, but they are of the same species I am sure. The tinier ones are horrendous. They are ungodly loud, and when their feet make contact with the floor it makes me quiver. Can they not stand still? Why must they jump about like that? Obviously the intelligence level diminishes the smaller you get. Hopefully they will all digress to such a state, and leave a hole in security for my escape.

One guard decides to open the gate. Many of my fellow inmates rush forward in attempts to escape, but are blocked by the guard. As the sentry looks around at the prisoners the frenzy in the small humans becomes ever so louder. So loud, that I bare my teeth at them. I must protect myself, I refuse to go down so easily.

The guard starts picking up my fellow prisoners and handing them over the gate into the mob. They must be on a death sentence. So long, my inmates. I cared for you not, but we shared the same living space, and thus share some sort of tangible connection for one another.        

The guard is upon me now. I had thought that by shrinking into this corner I would be left alone, but no… he is coming for me. I must escape. He will not take me to death. I have done little to deserve such a fate.

I take to my paws and dart between his garish feet. He stumbles, but tries to call to me in that annoying way they all do. As if that helps… Why do they insist using that high pitch voice? I understand them perfectly when they talk amongst themselves beyond the prison yard.  

While dodging all of the other cats I am able to position myself in another place. Closer to him then I would like, but far enough away to be ninja. His glance passes over me, but he loses interest and takes a different feline in my place. I have won a great victory on this day.

This cycle of scooping up cats and passing them beyond the gate continues for a while. Eventually all of the older prisoners are gone, and only the young ones… like myself, remain. If I had any plans of world domination I would have enacted them now.

But today is not that day. The guard opens the gate and lets the onslaught of hyperactive children into the prison yard. There is a frenzy of movement and fear. My fellow prisoners and I scatter as if to avoid being captured – even though we are already detainees in this place.

I have luck dodging my first bubbling human, and the second – but the guard scoops me up and holds me around the stomach. He lets my feet dangle in the air emasculating me, and thus I scratch at his enormous hands.

For all of my attacking the guard seems less than injured. My claws are not at their sharpest and my fatigue is growing. Minutes pass… Still he holds me captive. Why? Am I to be taken over the barrier and disposed of like my predecessors?

The sentry brings me up to his face, and then with his massive lips – which are the size of my entire head – he gives me a quick kiss. Ugh. I have been defiled. I am ready to die. I stare at him in disgust and try to pry myself from his grip with my feet.

I am losing this battle.

It seemed that right then, a tiny human made a decision. My fate was sealed…

I am being carted away, beyond the barrier. Beyond my fragile existence. This, my friends, is the end.

I am placed in a small carrier. Prison bars are closed in front of my face. Solitary.

Beyond me, a child is jumping up and down. Insane.

A mother is signing a paper.

The child says “I can’t wait to take him home! I’m going to name him…”

To find out what happens to our Captive Kitty stay tuned during our Adult Summer Reading Program!