Dukee got up from his nap and hopped down off the leather stool. He bent forward and stretched his back right leg out and then put it down. He took a step forward and stretched his back left leg out and then put it down. Dukee stopped at his water bowl, took his front left paw, and tapped the top of the water twice. With the water moving, he drank some of the water. After his drink, Dukee walked out into the family room and looked around.
He walked down the hallway and into the front living room. Mia’s mom was sitting in her recliner watching TV. And Mia was lying on the floor by her mom’s foot. Mia glanced over as Dukee walked in and then jumped up onto the side table. She watched as he walked to the end of the table and hopped down onto the litter box cabinet. Dukee saw a lizard clinging to the screen on the outside of the window and stepped toward it. The lizard watched him and moved as Dukee got closer.
Mia giggled as the lizard crawled out of sight. Dukee laid down on the blanket and gazed out the window. Mia got up, ran, and jumped up onto the kitty tower. Dukee’s body jumped slightly as he looked at Mia.
“You startled me,” Dukee whispered.
Mia giggled again, “sorry.”
Mia sat on the kitty tower between the cube and a post and looked out the window. Dukee slowly groomed his fur on his belly. Mia watched as a garbage truck pulled up to the stop sign with its brakes squeaking. Dukee looked up briefly as the truck drove past the house and down the street. Mia then saw a big brown and white hawk fly down and land in the grass across the street. Dukee looked up from his grooming when he saw the bird. The hawk was holding something down with its one claw.
“What is it doing?” Mia whispered.
“I think it found its dinner,” Dukee watched.
Mia and Dukee watched as the bird pecked at whatever it was under its claw.
“What do you think it is?” Mia stared at the bird.
“Well, it could be a lizard or a snake,” Dukee whispered.
“I don’t think that I could eat those,” Mia said.
“Yes, I agree. I like to play with them but not eat them,” Dukee whispered.
Mia looked back at her mom but she was involved in what was on the TV. She turned and looked back out the window.
“If you had to eat something from outside what would it be?” Mia asked Dukee.
“Well, if I really had to I guess a lizard,” Dukee looked at Mia.
“You would eat Larry?” Mia looked at Dukee.
“No, not Larry. Larry is our friend. If I had to eat a lizard, I would make sure that it wasn’t Larry first,” Dukee whispered.
“But what if it’s one of Larry’s relatives?” Mia asked.
“Well… Okay, I’ll eat a snake. We don’t know any snakes,” Dukee huffed. “What about you, what would you eat from outside?”
“I don’t know. I will only worry about that if I have to,” Mia said.
Dukee looked at Mia and shook his head. The two of them watched the hawk as it picked up its dinner in its beak and flew up high and landed on the pine tree nearby. Animals in the wild eat what they can in order to survive, no matter how yucky it might be to us.
Please join me again for more of: Two Cats And A House.