Sanctuary. David Greagg
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utterly wonderful. Almost as good as drinking from Mum, and there was so much of it! She began to purr. She hadn't purred since she had said goodbye to Mother. She ran her tongue all over the bottom of the bowl and licked up the last drops. Then she went back to her nest and lay down to sleep. When she woke up, the White Light was shining in the sky and it was cool again. She felt ill. Maybe the human milk wasn't good for cats. She washed herself carefully all over, paying particular attention to her belly. It was round and full. Maybe she'd just had too much.
She lay still for some time and the feeling of nausea passed. Perhaps she wouldn't have to go hunting in the morning. It really depended on whether the human would come back with more of the white stuff. Could you live on the white stuff alone? She doubted it. The only trouble with birds and mice was that when it was hot you had to eat them as soon as you'd caught them. Mum had told her that eventually the world would turn cold. When it did that, you could keep birds and mice for a while before the meat turned bad. But not while the world was hot.
She thought this over. It was hard to imagine the world turning cold. If it did she would be in trouble. She and Mother had short fur, as did her brother. She would need to find somewhere warmer to live. Big Stripes would be all right. His thick coat would keep him warm. She wondered if that was why she hadn't seen Big Stripes lately. That much fur would be very uncomfortable while the world was hot. She slipped into a strange dream where the world was frozen, but there was a box where warmth came out of it. She knew all she had to do was find a way to make it happen. She prodded it with her paws, but nothing worked. Then all of a sudden a small light flashed on, and a warm, red radiance flowed out from it. In her dream, she curled up in front of it and slept.
When she woke up it was broad daylight. She had not meant to sleep so long. Already it was getting hot and humans stomped their way up and down the paths around the buildings. She wasn't hungry yet, and she sat and waited to see if anything was going to happen with the stone bowl. Soon the human returned, or another one like it. Sitting crouched in her nest, she watched the human bend over. There was a faint trickling sound and the human went away again. She waited for a while, but the scent of milk was curling around her whiskers. She found herself walking forward almost against her will. The milk was every bit as good as yesterday, and she licked the bowl dry, washed her face with her front paws and went back to her nest to think things over.
All right then, she thought. This human meant her no harm and wanted to help. Or so it seemed. But how useful was this help? She wasn't sure, but she doubted she could live on milk alone. And relying on a human to come and bring milk every day was perilous. What if they stopped bringing it? Already she had slept in and missed a morning's hunting because her belly was full. She wondered about the human. No one knew why humans did things. They were big and loud and couldn't be trusted. She closed her eyes and came to a decision. She could not afford to rely on this human. Better to go hunting again and forget about milk.
Some time afterwards she chased a mouse, but it got away from her. Her full stomach made it harder to run. Maybe milk was bad for cats, though not in the way she had thought. But perhaps Mother had been wrong about humans. The human was not doing it right, but it had tried to be helpful. Humans didn't seem to hunt at all, but they could get all kinds of food. If she found a more sensible human, perhaps they might take her somewhere safe and comfortable. She sniffed once more at her little nest, and thought that maybe life could, and should, be better than this.
Later in the day she sat watching a line of humans walk down towards The Road. She never went there because it was loud and noisy and filled with terrifying monsters which rolled past at awful speeds. She was hiding behind a large bush, and noticed that humans were getting into, and out of, the strange scary boxes. Doors would open and close and some humans got out and others got in and away they went. Maybe one of them might take me away somewhere with them, she considered. She shrank from the idea, but the thought wouldn't go away.
She lifted her head and watched the humans. One in particular caught her eye. She smelled female and had red fur. Her face looked kind and gentle. There were only a few humans left, so if she were going to do this, it had better be now. She felt her heart thumping painfully in her chest. This was going to need a lot more courage than she felt she had. Suddenly a vision sprang into her mind: Mother, batting her with a paw. Now! she seemed to be saying. Go! She sprang forward, ran across the hot path and wrapped her front paws around the human.
Their back paws were so big! At once the human stopped, bent over, picked her up in her front paws and said something. She looked at the human's eyes and said Please? Take me home with you? The human's paws were big and cool and held her gently but firmly. The human did something to a big sack thing she was carrying and carefully lifted her into it. The sack was roomy and dark and there were strange flat things in it, but there was plenty of room for her. Part of her brain was telling her No! It's a trap! But it didn't feel like that at all. This human felt kind and gentle and could be trusted. And being in a sack would be a lot better when they got to The Road. Otherwise she might panic and run. The human's mouth came close to the opening at the top and said something soothing. The sack began to close until there was just a little hole right at the top, too small to wriggle out of, but big enough to let fresh air in.
She lay back against the side of the sack and tried to put herself to sleep. Strange things would happen, she was certain. There was no point worrying about it now. She had made her choice. By concentrating on her own breathing, she managed to doze a little. Through the sack she could just make out the human's presence near her head. The thump of the human's heartbeat reminded her of Mother, and she drifted into the lightest of sleeps.
III
She became aware that the human was talking again. Then she felt herself lifted onto something which made loud noises. Her body tensed, but she told herself to calm down. Humans and loud noises went together. Then she felt the human put one paw around the sack. She leaned her back against the human and tried to sleep, even as they sprang away. It was scary. Something told her they were going very fast now. She was glad she couldn't see what was happening. There were sudden changes of direction which made her close her eyes tight. All her claws were stuck into the inside of the sack now. The noise smoothed out and became softer, even though she was sure they were going faster.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she made herself relax by burying her nose in her front paws. Without realizing it, she managed to fall asleep, and only woke up when the noise suddenly stopped. She was lifted up again and two humans spoke. The second human had a deeper voice, but he sounded kind as well. The female human was holding her and whispering through the opening at the top of the sack.
Then they were moving again, and the world went dark. She felt the human change direction twice, and then they came to a stop. She could hear movement and strange noises. A human paw came down into the bag and began to stroke her fur and head. The human's paws were big and hairless, but they felt strong and gentle. The other human came closer, making even stranger noises. She had no idea what this was about but the pleasure of being stroked drove out all other thoughts. Who knew? Mother had never told her humans could do this! A small red jewel of love glowed in her heart. Slowly she was lifted up out of the sack, and she looked around.
She was in an enclosed space. There was a big, white bowl thing, smooth walls, and green wooden ground underneath. There were lots of other things, none of which looked familiar. But what she looked at most of all was the red-furred human still holding her with one paw and stroking her with the other; and also a box on the ground. There was a cloth thing in it. She had seen boxes before. They were warm and comfortable until they got wet, when they just fell apart. Maybe this one wouldn't get wet. She looked up and saw that there was more wooden stuff overhead. So maybe this wouldn't get wet ever. And there was a cloth thing spread out in the box. She'd never seen cloth inside boxes before. Clearly the human had put it there as a nest for her.
Ever so gently, the human lowered her to the ground. She sniffed at the nest approvingly. Yes, that would do. She walked around looking and smelling. There was a bowl with fresh water in it. Another bowl had white stuff in it and she gave it a lick. This was the same not-quite milk the other human had given her. What else? Another dish had strange little pellets in it. It looked like bird droppings, but it smelled heavenly. She sat down in