by Raymond Alexander Kukkee

Created on: May 09, 2008   Last Updated: August 01, 2008

The Beast

I heard a twig snap, a sharp crack. It woke me from a sound sleep, and it may have been a dream this time. I knew it was the right time, six or so. She was right. There was a beast she had seen out in the cold, dull dawn, the day I got up to go for new tools. She said she had tried to catch it, but had no luck. The hair stood up on the back of my neck . "I can catch it", I thought.

I dressed and pulled on my boots. My warm coat and gloves on, I walked to the door and made no noise.

I turned the door knob . "That was good", I thought, as it made no noise at all, not a sound. I tried to pull the door with care too, but it was stuck and the hinge squawked, the one that needs oil. I gasped. I did not want to wake her up and scare her. I did not move. She did turn in bed, just a bit, and sighed in her sleep. It was all right, I thought, I did not wake her.

I stepped out in the cold air and took a deep breath. I stood in the same spot for a long time. I had to wait and see if the beast was still there or if it had moved off to hide in the safe, dark part of the thick bush. I did not move; as a man used to the hunt, I knew that the way to stay out of sight is to be still, and not blink .
"Do not move!" I thought, "that is the way to catch it. Be still!" I tried not to sneeze.It was hard not to sneeze. I sneeze a lot in spring, the dust from the dead grass does that.

A sound. Soft. The beast moved. There it was. I felt it as much as saw it. It was brown and black, striped and tan, and two feet long. It had a tail near as long as it was from nose to hind legs. I had to look twice, the eyes were green, I thought she said they were blue, but no. In the new light of the sun that was low in the sky, the eyes were deep green.
"Here, cat!" I called in a soft, low voice. The cat crouched low; it was scared.
"Here cat!"
The cat did not move, but stared at me, and did not twitch his tail. It was a wild cat, a stray, one from the streets that was left in the park to fend for food on its own. How mean.
I went back to the house to get a bowl of milk. She had read my mind and gave it to me with a smile, as soon as I stepped through the door, for she was up, and had watched both me and the cat through the frost on the glass.
"I told you so" she said.
"The cat is back" I said. "I told you so" she said, and made a face at me. "See?" She grinned.

I took the bowl of milk out and moved out with care to the edge of the bush. The beast was still there.
I put the bowl down and went back to the porch. "Here cat" I called. The glow from the green eyes was all I could see. I waited .
At last she sniffed, and moved to the bowl. She watched me as she sipped the warm milk.

"You are some beast ", I said, " and my wife says you will be cat."
She drank the last bit of milk and turned and looked at me twice as she slipped back to the safe, dark spot in the bush. She would be back.

"She will be ours soon , she is not as scared as she was" my wife said as she stood at my side to watch. "We will call her 'Cat'.

Learn more about this author, Raymond Alexander Kukkee.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.