Rafael
Dukee stood up and arched his back for a nice stretch. He hopped down off the side table and walked down the hallway. In his bedroom, he walked up to his food bowl and started eating. Auntie was sitting on her bed with her laptop and writing. When Dukee was done eating he jumped up onto the leather stool by the window. He licked the fur on his right side and then laid down. There were a couple of birds sitting on the fence outside that Dukee watched.
Mia hopped down from the arm of Mom’s chair and trotted to her bedroom. About a minute passed and Mia trotted back into the front living room with Lamb-chop in her mouth. She softly meowed as she dropped Lamb-chop by Mom’s chair. Mom looked down and thanked Mia for her present. Mia jumped up by her food dish and started nibbling.
Dukee was watching the birds when he heard a noise right below the window. Dukee got close to the screen and looked down but couldn’t see anything. Just then, Rafael’s head popped up.
“Hi ya pal, how ya been?”
“Rafael, you startled me,” Dukee whispered.
“Sorry kid. I just have to be careful during the daylight hours,” Rafael looked at Dukee.
Dukee looked back at Auntie and thankfully she wasn’t hearing Rafael. She was focused on her writing.
“So what have you been doing?” Dukee whispered.
“Oh, I've just been meeting up with the ladies and visiting a few other neighborhoods. I talk to this other orange cat and he told me that there was a mountain lion in the area,” Rafael scratched his ear.
“Yeah, I heard that too from another friend of mine,” Dukee looked down at Rafael.
“Yeah, us cats out here have to be careful because we don’t want to be considered a meal.
“Do you really think that the mountain lion would eat you?” Dukee asked.
“I wouldn’t think so since we are practically family, but you never know,” Rafael scratched his ear again.
“You know, sometimes I dream about wandering free as you do, but then I’m not so sure about it,” Dukee said.
“Yeah, it’s not for everyone. It can be scary, and then you also deal with all these bugs,” Rafael swatted the air with his paw. “Right now I’m on my way back to my house. I was wandering all night long so I’m a bit tired.”
“You were out all night? I don’t think that I could do that. I think Auntie would be worried about me,” Dukee said.
“Yeah, like I said, it’s not for everyone… Well kid, I’m going to head off. I just happened to see you as I came around the corner so I thought I’d say hello,” Rafael looked up at Dukee.
“Well, thank you, it’s always nice talking with you,” Dukee whispered.
“Tell pretty Mia, that I said hello,” Rafael walked toward the fence.
“I will… Take care,” Dukee watched as Rafael jumped and climbed over the fence.
Rafael landed on the other side, looked around, and carefully trotted to the neighbor’s house. He kept his head low as he made his way across their backyard. Dukee watched him until he disappeared around the other side of the house. He is quite a character, Dukee thought. Dukee got up and hopped down from the stool. He walked out into the family room and down the hall.
Dukee saw Mia laying in the cube part of the kitty tower and walked over to her. He jumped up onto the blanket that lays on top of Mia’s litter box cabinet and sat there.
“Rafael told me to tell you hello,” Dukee whispered.
Mia looked at Dukee, “when did you talk to him?”
“A few minutes ago. He didn’t stay long. Only long enough to tell me that he heard about the mountain lion in the area,” Dukee whispered.
“Oh, okay. It’s been pretty quiet up here,” Mia whispered.
Dukee laid down on the blanket, and the two of them just watched out the front window. Just a few birds were flying around in the tree.
Please join me again for more of: Two Cats And A House.
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