Cat Hidden like a Smuggling Device

It was a chilly winter night in a house by the mountains. I had been invited to the house of a friend who had this beautiful house in the slopes of a forested mountain side. I had been here before, but in the summer season. This was my first winter at the house, and as we all know winters in the mountains can get too cold. The idea was to spend the weekend at the mountains, and I was going to enjoy it.

I packed everything I would need for the two and a half days that we were going to spend at the house; two changes of clothes and a jacket. The food was going to be obtained at the nearest supermarket. For the cooking, there was a refrigerator, and a gas stove at the house. They had two dogs at the house, which were as friendly as your best friend, but not with strangers. They had attacked a burglar once.

We arrived at the house a few hours before sunset, and we decided to take a little walk around into the woods. There was a stream of clear water running down through the mountains. We stopped there just to watch the beautiful natural scenery of the waterfalls, created when they encounter a big rock on their way down the mountains. Making the trip to the mountains to witness this kind of spectacles was worth it.

By the time we went back to the house it was already dark and cold. We ate supper after which each one of us went to their room to sleep. I covered myself with two blankets and soon I felt asleep profoundly. I was in the middle of my sleep when I heard something under the bed, as if something was scratching the bed. In the middle of my sleep, I recognized that sound, which seemed familiar to me.

I turned on the light, and from under the bed, I heard the little cat meowing, and what a surprise! It was my little

 pet cat who had managed to hide into my baggage, and let himself carried like a smuggling device.

Insomnia

After the ups and downs of daily life, finally, it was time to go to bed.

"It was an ordinary day, problems here, problems there," he thought as he was getting ready to go to sleep.

That day had been one of the busiest since he started working for a marketing company doing surveys. He had to drive several miles around the city in order to perform some interviews. He was tired, but the idea of getting home and have a restful night, kept him motivated during the journey back home.

Finally! John was at home. The wearisome day was a thing of the past. He took a shower and drink and ate some of his favorite food. It was a little over eight o’clock at night. John heard evening news.

"The weather, crime and economics," John thought.

He took a little nap, forgetting to turn off the TV. When he regained consciousness, it was past ten o’clock. John headed to the bedroom and threw himself over the bed.

He had time to ponder about some important issues of existence.

"What am I doing here?" "What is there after life?" "Why do human beings have to procreate if life can sometimes turn miserable?" these were some of the questions for which John wanted to find some answers.

With this questions in mind and an intense desire to obtain the answers. John grabbed the wooden guitar that he kept hung on the wall and started strumming some chords.

It was a little before dawn, when John laid back over the bed thinking.

" I did not obtained any answers to my questions in life, but the guitar session was productive "

The answers to everyone´s questions were not answered, during the night, But the activity that kept him with his eyes open throughout taught him that one can overcome the ups and downs in life by doing those things that are fun.

Scared of the Dentist

¨You have caries in various teeth, ¨she exclaimed.

¨What am I supposed to do? ¨ I asked

¨I´m going to get your teeth clean of caries and you will have to take care of your teeth afterwards, ¨she explained.

¨That means washing cleaning and eating more healthy food, right? ¨ I inquired.

¨More or less, ¨ she answered.

She began to work on one of my back teeth right away. The procedure did not hurt a bit, as she applied local anesthesia. What bothered me a little was the posture in which I remained for 30 or so minutes and a tiny extracting liquid hose inside my mouth.

¨Your next appointment is for next week, ¨ she uttered.

I left the dentist office with a sense of relief, but also with a sense of disgust due to that during the first treatment, I could hardly swallow saliva and she would not give a single moment of break.

One week later, I was right on time in front of the dentist´s office.

¨Come on in, ¨ someone said.
¨How are you doing today? ¨ She asked me.

¨Good! but I still have sensitive teeth each time I drink, either cold or hot liquids,¨ I explained.

¨Sit here, ¨she ordered.

This time, she did not injected anesthesia locally

¨Does it hurt? ¨ she asked.

¨Not yet, ¨ I answered.
She laid all her weight on the right side of my shoulder and placed her face very close to my mouth.

When she finished, I was exhausted. Not because of the treatment, but because she had been more rough while doing her work.

For the next set appointment, I had already programmed it, but on the exact day, I did not go to the dentist´s office, instead, I went to the super market and acquired everything needed for mouth care and I did this to avoid the unpleasant moments that caused me being under the dentist menacing working tools and all of her human weight over half part of my body.

Black Cherokee Jeep

¨How much are you asking for the Jeep, ¨I asked.

¨It will go for $1400.¨ I heard right away.

¨It´s a good one, I´m selling it because I´m in need of cash, ¨he added.

I knew that the last statement was some rather hook to sell the vehicle more easily.

Examining the body of the vehicle, I realized that there were no signs of scratches or impairments caused by extended exposures to the sun and environment. It only needed to check the mechanical conditions of the car.

¨can I ride the Jeep, ¨ I asked.

¨Sure, here are the keys, ¨he uttered.

¨I opened the passenger´s door and got inside the Jeep.  After I started the engine, I placed my hand over the steering wheel, which fit in just the palm of my hand. 

¨How can someone drive this vehicle with such a small steering wheel! ¨ I exclaimed.

After the first turns around the block, I began to feel more confident about this little inconvenience. I heard some people asking me about the price of the car, thinking that I was the owner of it.

¨How much are you asking, ¨ someone would exclaim.

¨I´m testing it, I´m thinking of buying it myself, ¨ I would answer.

¨I´ll give you 200 more of the cost, ¨someone said.

¨I´ll think about it, ¨ I replied.

After paying the asked money for the Jeep, I headed immediately to a car wash. After thoroughly cleaning the Jeep, I realized that I had made a good deal buying it. The body looked impeccable and the engine was running well. Maybe a tune up and four new tires would be sufficient enough for now.

I drove this Jeep for around five years, during which it underwent minor mechanical repairs, which made it to continue running well, even on the day I sold it.

¨How much do you want for it, ¨someone asked me.

¨Take it for $800, I´m selling the car because I´m going abroad, I said.

It was true. I was going to travel to another place and I could not take my car with me, so I decided to sell it.

¨It looks like it needs some upholstery and minor mechanical repairs, which I can do myself, ¨the buyer said.

¨I´ll take it, ¨ he added, ¨ handing me the cash on my hand. 

An Ephemeral Encounter

The pen was rolling over one piece of blank paper hesitantly without knowing what to imprint on it. Slowly, but comprehensibly, the ideas began to abound on his head and the pen started to pour ink over the blank paper mantle. Two figures began to impregnate the mind of the writer and the spot of the scenes began to produce a seaport on whatever coast.

The destines of two people in the beginnings of their awakening to life were about to be united by a circumstantial event. In the late evening of a colorful sunny season, a calmly breeze surrounded the atmosphere which was about to produce an ephemeral encounter between a man and a woman.

Only one block separated him from the opposite gender. He stopped for a moment and turned back to stare at the sinking sun over the horizon. With that evening image of nature, he turned back again and continue his way ahead to his place of living.

Moments ahead, he slowed the stride and approached a lonely woman, caressing her hair with delicacy. He did not know now but that ephemeral encounter was going to change his life forever.

¨Hi! Are you new in town? ¨ He asked.

¨I just got here yesterday on a cruise ship, ¨ she responded serenely.

They were caught into mutual stares that revealed some kind of likenesses. Not having superfluous words to add to this moment, he expressed these words with sincerity.

¨Would you like something to eat? ¨ He declared with earnestness

¨Sure, as a matter of fact, I´m anxious to ingest something,¨ she uttered with contentment.

They both walked some meters ahead to the nearest food stand where she would recount the ordeal she had gone through at her hometown before coming this far from her home.

That spark ignited hidden and repressed feelings, which over time, during the transcurse of the night, were poured out as a stream of water falling from a huge cascade. The romance lasted the sufficient time to mark the existences of both of them for the rest of their lingering time on the face of the earth.

Kitty

I was occupied doing some chores at home, when in the distance, I perceived a strange noise. I did not give it much importance, but a ray of hope lit up my mind.

¨That could be my dog, ¨I pondered.

My dog had disappeared days before after I had left the home for a few days. Strangely because I had been absent before and my dog had always remained at home until my homecoming.

Then he started heading towards where the noise was coming from. Some yards ahead a disturbing noise of an animal was distorting the calm of the country environment.  Approaching, I realized that a dog too big was stalking something too small.  Advancing more steps ahead, the whole scene revealed to me.  It was a small kitten, who frightened with its eyes wide open was defending himself from the angry dog.

When the dog spotted me, it stopped its furious attack to the defend less kitten and stared at me with its jaws and teeth exerting a menacing smirk. The kitty just stretched its legs high up, trying to stop the dog from attacking him. . I remove my coat and I approached the kitten. I wrapped it with my jacket and headed home.

The kitten was so little that it completely fit in the palm of my hand. On the journey from the place of the attack to my home, I had sufficient clues as what would have driven the kitten there. The kitty was only a few days or weeks old and he had already endure the hardest of times during its short days in this world.

We arrived home and immediately offered the kitten some food, which it did not even smelled. The kitty went directly to a corner in the house and laid down. It was around twilight, so I arranged a place for him. The kitty wrapped himself in the middle of the covers and fell profoundly asleep.

¨It must have been abandoned along with its brothers and he was one of the ones who could survive during these days, ¨I pondered.

The following day, the first thing I did was to go and see how the kitty was doing. I found it awake and standing on its four feet, but calmly staring at the wall without showing any emotions. I offered him some food, which it rejected. I realize that the skinny kitty was not use to eat much. Half of an hour later, it went back to sleep and did not wake up till the next day.

After one week from the date I met him in a dangerous situation, the kitten began to move around in the house, showing its feline instincts. The walls were not too high for him, as it could run from side to side with its tiny claws clinging to the walls. There was not a place that it had not already inspected.  

By this time, my kitty and I had become the best of friends and I enjoyed seeing him playing with a ball hanging from a thread in the yard.  It would jump over the table where I was doing something and that was an indication that my kitty needed someone with whom to play.

A Favorite hobbie

Going camping is one of my favorite hobbies. It gives me a sense of relief from the pressure one gets from the everyday routine. So, I made plans to go to the countryside. I packed some supplies: matches, knife, fork, spoon, plate, plastic glass and some food. The following day, I left from home early in the morning, and I headed to the bus station, which is around two miles from my place.

It was a sunny and warm summer day and it looked as if it was going to be like that for the rest of the day. I did not check the weather forecast for that day, yet I knew that the rainy season was about to come soon. I imagined myself hiking and drinking spring water, which is abundant at the place, where I´m thinking on going. With these thoughts in mind, I left my home and headed towards the bus station.

Two hours later, I was hiking through the mountains, slopes and hills. I spotted the right place to set my camping tent. It was a slightly inclined hill, without trees, or bushes around. I began setting my camping site. After 15 minutes of light work, I had finished the task, and was ready to continue with the arrangement of the fire site which required a few rocks piled up in a small circumference, so as to keep the fire from spreading and causing a fire.

I raised my sight to the sky and noticed that there were some dark clouds forming up, and I could feel the speed of the wind increasing by the way at how my hair was being agitated. That did not discourage me at all. I was going to continue following the plans for that day.

 “They will dissipate.” I thought, knowing that it had not rained at all in the previous days.

A few minutes after, the sky was completely filled with dark clouds, and all of a sudden, the first drops of water began to hit the ground. I got inside my camping tent, hoping that the rain would stop soon. It didn´t, and by now, I could feel the currents of water sliding underneath my tent. The change of weather made me start shivering with cold.

I placed all my extra clothes on the tent´s floor to ease the cold. The rain began to make place to lightning and thunder, which sounded across the sky like supersonic airplanes. One of them stroke so tremendously, that I feared it had hit my tent. Apparently the rain wasn´t going to stop for that day. I cuddled myself on the floor, feeling the cold water running heavily under me and my tent. I fell asleep soon.
The next day, I was woken up by a ray of sunlight, which penetrated through a little hole on the tent, and landed straight over my face. I was hungry, so I got out of the tent; stretched my muscles; blinked my eyes several times; trying to completely become aware of the surroundings. There was mud and water all over the place and not a single tree trunk was dry to make fire, because all of them were completely wet.

 “What a disgrace” I reflected, with regret.

“No problem” I thought, with solace.

I decided to eat the food, which didn´t needed to be cooked, and which I had brought with me, in the form of two cans. I opened one, and ate with delight. After the meal, I went to a small cavern, not too far from there, where the water gets filtrated naturally and drops fall down, similar to the ones which form stalactites in other caverns. I placed a water recipient and waited for five minutes, before it got filled up. I drank some water, and then, put the recipient again for another round.

When I got back to my tent, I noticed dark clouds forming above in the sky, signaling another rainy day. I went inside the tent and waited, until I heard the first three or four drops of water hitting the tent, which gradually were growing in quantity, until I wasn´t able to count them. I took out a novel, which I had taken with me “Le Tour Du Monde en Quatre Vingts Jours” by Jules Verne, who´s one of my favorite authors. I read a few pages, but then I thought.

“Why don´t I write my own stories! And I began to write this one, trying to put the best of my knowledge about writing in it.

The daylight had given place to the dark of the night, and the thunder and lightning were as earsplitting as yesterday. The fear of being hit by a strike had diminished in me, given the fact that I had a lightning conductor, in the form of an electricity tower, 200 meters from my camping site. The only fear was that my own stamina was decreasing due to the lack of food. I had taken some candies, so I started tasting the sweet flavor of one of them, hoping that this thunderstorm would end soon, to my bewilderment! it continued raining and thundering for the rest of the night.

The ordeal continued until the following day. I had to endure the same set of circumstances as the previous day. To me, this wasn´t what I had expected, and I thought about the first human beings, who before fire was discovered had to eat raw food; withstand the coldest temperatures, packed inside a dark cavern, and somehow survived, so I considered myself fortunate and grateful for the natural quality of adaptation that we, humans, possess.
I headed to the cavern to get the supply of water for that day, and as I was walking towards the place, a group of five dogs made their appearance in this story. They were small in size, not as the regular dogs that you see in your neighborhood, but they showed me the size of their fangs, and their wild gaze, which was comparable to that of a group of hyenas getting ready to attack and make their meal out of this starving and unlucky hiking guy. They started to encircle me, and gazing at me with animal hatred.

“Leave him alone!” Someone cried from behind.

The dogs started moving their tail, gazing towards the direction of the stranger.

“These are my dogs.” He said.

“I´m a shepherd and these dogs help me keep the cows from getting too far from this area.

¨Where are you going?” He inquired calmly

"I´m camping at a few meters from here, and I´m going to the cavern to get some water; my matches got wet and I haven´t been able to make a fire to cook anything.¨  I stated.

“Come with me.“ He ordered kindly.

 I followed him to a clear area where there was something roasting directly over a fire.

“It´s corn.¨ he said amicably. 

¨Do you like corn?” he inquired.

“Yes I do” I replied looking at the roasted corn ears.

 He gave me one, and invited me to sit down over the grass.
I ate the corn ear as hurriedly as I could, thinking that after this one, there were more awaiting to be eaten. He told me that I had nothing to be afraid of the dogs, that they were trained to prevent the cattle for spreading apart, and that they just reacted as they would with any stranger in that area. He wished me good luck and told me that if I wanted more corn ears, I could snatch some from the crop.

I continued to the cavern; obtained my supply of water and returned to the camping site. On my way back, I stopped and snatched some corn ears. When I got to the tent, the clouds were about to drop a heavy bombardment of water, that by this time, were too familiar to me. I got into the tent and decided to spend the time writing.

The next day I packed up and returned home, hoping to someday come back once more. I was pleased to have had the chance to experience these three days in austerity out in the country. It gave me a lifetime lesson.