THE RULES ARE SIMPLE:
- Write a complete story, beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less.
- Take time to proofread and edit.
- Make every word count.
- Include the photo prompt and Linkz on your page and link your story URL.
- Read and comment. Reciprocation is half the fun!
It’s not what you look at that matters it’s what you see. ~ Henry David Thoreau
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Special thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for her weekly inspiration
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100 Words
the cat came back…
PHOTO PROMPT © CEAyr
He’d tried numerous ways to be rid of the cat that slept on his scooter’s seat each day.
Scaring only caused it to wink is eyes. Boxing it and freeing it in the woods simply increased the time between sightings. Then he tried giving it away. The new owner promised she would keep it inside. She called a week later telling him it had escaped.
And there she was.
Scooping the cat up he took it inside. Then, grabbing a butcher knife he cut off a largish hunk of fish and fed her.
Resignedly he whispered, “Welcome home”
She purred.
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Giving credit where credit is due – I think my writing today has been heavily influenced by a song written in 1893 by Harry S. Miller.
Image Credit: PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18062272
And up until today I had thought it was a product of the early 60s, as in this very popular version recorded by the New Christy Minstrels.
I trust you’ve found my ending much happier for the cat?
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For some really great takes on today’s prompt just click the little blue frog!
Life on the Farmlet 
I was momentarily worried about the butcher’s knife!
=^ ^=
Gotcha! You know I would never…! 🤗
Laughing.
Wretched creatures, need a sack and some water to get rid of them!
Sorry, my allergies are playing up again.
Or a Coyote, Ceayr. We’ve lost our last four cats to a Coyote in the night. I always get irritated with their ways… scratching furniture, caterwauling, eating my songbirds instead of the voles, and then when they are gone I am sad. Talk about double-minded.
If only roadrunners weren’t so elusive, hmm…
HA – HA – HA! That took me a minute to make the connection. I’ve only seen them twice, out west in Arizona and California, and yes, they are elusive. 😀
I feared where that knife was going to end up for a second! Phew! 🙂
So did I, Iain. But I decided to change up my usual dark slant and go for the surprise ending.
That’s kinda beautiful. I can totally relate. Once upon a time, a cat decided it was going to live with us. We found him a home from which he disappeared. A week or two later, he was curled up in a closet. We finally acquiesced.
Nobbinmaug, when I was a kid most of our pets found us. When they stayed we knew it was because they wanted us, and isn’t that best? 🙂
I don’t know how many rescue cats we had when I was growing up. George was the best. He was my cat, his decision, who tried to climb my leg when he was a kitten. He used to ride around on my shoulder.
HA! I had a kitten do that to me. I had named him some dopey name to begin, and then he treed my bare leg and slid down from thigh to ankle. He instantly he became SPIKE forevermore.
George was originally Spunky. Once he convinced me to like him, he became George Herman Thomas Green Rausendauer III, first of his name.
Oh, my. I got a little nervous about that knife myself–you did a good job of not tipping your hand ahead of the conclusion!
Linda, this was another entry that practically wrote itself, although… it was very hard to whittle it down to only 100 words. I’m glad it worked! 🙂
My grands have a music cd of kids tunes they always ask me to play when at my house. The cat came back song is their favorite right along with the song about marching ants.
They were mine too, Anita. We used to sing The Ants go Marching as we hiked when I was in Girl Scouts. I secretly think it drove the troop mom’s nuts. 🤭
Here’s a fun factoid about me: I was in scouting till I was a Senior in HS. Of course we were ‘Mariner’ Scouts by then, which meant many trips to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, Ca. Some of the girl’s parents owned sailboats and yachts! Really fun! Oh, I almost forgot… there were the surfer boys in their swim gear too. 😎
Don’t cats aways know? Still, you had me worried there for a moment. 🙂
Gahlearner, I think they have an innate ability to size us up. I’m glad my little tale worked!
Good misdirect, Lynda! That was a good one!
Thank you, Dale! Glad you enjoyed it.
Nice twist!
Thank you, Violet. 🙂
😂 you got me a minute with that knife ! Nice twist!
Hi Deb! So, it worked. 😉
Now that she has tasted fish, till death do us part.
Abhijit, so true! I once fed my cat the merest of bites when making tuna salad. From that day on she demanded her bite as soon as I opened the can. 😀
There is no vegetarian among cats.
So true!
Wow–haven’t heard that song in ages 🙂 Fun story, and the cat wins.
Thank you Granonine. Yes, that cat was very determined!
Loved the knife part!!! You got me!! Ha ha!!
Thanks Lori. I had fun with this prompt. Not sure it isn’t just me, but it seemed like “… cutting off a hunk of ‘fish'” was very close to the word “flesh” which in my mind was a good momentary miscue when reading at the end. 😉
And in case it is a teacher thing, here is a –
NOTE ON MISCUE: noun Linguistics
An error in reading, especially one caused by failure to respond correctly to a phonetic or contextual cue in the text. (ref: Oxford Dictionary)
Although surely the author set you up for it a bit. Didn’t she?
At the very bottom I noticed this admonition: “N.B. Song Pirates are hereby notified that this Song is Copyright, 1893, by Will Rossiter, Chicago.” Some things don’t change.
Mister S. is pleased to see you bring in the concept of a Miss Q. in reading.
No, you are correct, Steve. Some things never change. Copyright laws are a necessity, but I do take umbrage (usage?) with those who copyright an old song, poem, writing and in effect kill its usage. As in “Happy Birthday to You”.
I spent hours and hours and HOURS teaching first and second graders to slow down and notice the spelling of a word before blundering on. So it was kind of a giggle, when proofreading this little story, to be tricked by my own writing to see ‘flesh’ for ‘fish’.
Miss Q does have her place. 😉
Dear Lynda,
They say cats adopt their owners and not the other way around. I’d say that’s the case here. Sounds like he has a friend for life. Nicely done.
Shalom a few weeks late,
Rochelle
This is so true! To be sure all of our cat’s adopted us.
A few minutes ago I learned about a rare native plant species in northern Alabama that was discovered only in 1982:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clematis_morefieldii
Have you heard of it?
No I had not, Steve. But often with rare native flora and fauna it isn’t widely talked about which helps its preservation. This area is growing by leaps and bounds so I am not at all surprised that it is now on the native plants critical list. Thank you for sharing this! I will keep my eyes open for it and who knows I may capture it with my camera.