Zak was profoundly affected by the lawn mover incident. Even though he had pretty much recovered physically, (except for the hair on his back that would never grow again) he had become far more of a house and futon cat than ever before. The outside world held dangers he would rather avoid. For now, he preferred to stay away from the whirling blades of death.
Zelda on the other hand had always been an adventurous cat. She loved to move around the neighborhood looking for birds, mice and squirrels.
Her thick black coat had made hiding in the shadows a skill at which she was very adept. When she brought home a treat for her owners, the Fishers they never seemed particularly thrilled. She had tried everything she could think of to make the Fishers happy. She had brought home the bottom half of a squirrel and they had tossed it in the garbage. Several mice had followed the squirrel into the garbage. The bird got thrown somewhere in the trees behind the house. Each gift was not appreciated. The fish head had gone into the garbage disposal. That was a crime. In any case, no treat she brought home for them seemed to make them happy.
From that standpoint, it was not a big surprise when her owners, the Fishers, moved and did not wait for Zelda. They left her behind with no warm place to bring her special catches. Even though the Pensacola area where she lived did not get particularly cold, it was very difficult to survive without some help from somewhere. After weeks of exploring farther and farther from her old house and living on morsels she caught, she found a house with a pet door.
Its funny, looking at a pet door from the outside, when you don't know what pet the door belongs to can be frightening. What if the door belongs to some vicious bull dog name Bruiser? What if Bruiser likes to tear cats up and bring their back half to their masters? Now, thought Zelda, "That is a scary thought. I am glad I am not a squirrel."
She worried that the owners might be Chinese. The Fishers had alway called the Chinese restaurant down the street cat-dog. When they fussed at Zelda they would threaten to sell her to Cat-Dog. Surely, these people wouldn't want to eat a skinny anorexic cat.
Nevertheless, hunger was getting the better of her otherwise good cat sense. Her thick black coat had become straggly and matted. She was now very thin and a bit mangy. She had always been a cat that wanted to stay in shape and be thin so she could attract the appropriate Tom cat at some point. Exile had driven her to the edge of thinness. She could now be considered anorexic. In fact, her stomach had shrunk so much from her time in the wilderness that she had lost the ability to eat big meals.
The door beaconed with its ultrawide span. She waited most of the day to see what would come out of the door within a door. "Whatever pet that was, it could certainly hold its pee. " She thought. "Maybe.", she hoped, "It was a cat with a litter box, not some cat eating monster. " A dark decended, she ventured into the house.
Carefully, Zelda pushed in the pet door. It's flap seemed to move stiffly as if it was not used very much. Inside, she could see the kitchen and the counters towering above her over the dimly lit tile floor. As she pushed her thin body through the door the springs closed tightly on her tail making her think that she was caught. She jerked her body and her tail away from the door and launched herself into one of the lower cabinets. Bouncing of the cabinet door and scrambling to get he feet under her, the door opened and the largest bag of cat feed Zelda had ever seen tumbled down over her.
With her feet flying, throwing cat food pellets all over the kitchen she slid into the living room and then tumbled into a huge pillow. Here she froze. When she looked up in the shadowy light she could see the largest cat apparition that ever existed towing over her on top of the pillow. Zak staired down at the mangy black scrawny cat and cleared his throat.
Looking over the edge of his pillow down at the pitiful Zelda shaking in her matted fur. Zak, ever the opportunistic cat, said, "You know that if you are going to stay here there will have to be a few rules. First, Angus my owner is asleep right now. Never wake him up. You almost broke that rule already. Secondly, you are going to have to disappear when he is awake. You understand?"
Zelda, still trembling, "Nodded and said, "I understand."
"Now." said Zak, "Go clean up that mess you made and come find a pillow to lay on. I want to hear how you found this place. I don't go out much, and I am hoping you can tell me what is going on out there.
