My Brief, Wondrous Escape

“The Pidgeon’s are at it again,” Manny grunted from his perch high above the fray—a mottled windowsill with bent curtain slats from years of hammocking his large, smooshed face.

He tensed, as most cats do—an instinctive reaction to the sight of prey. His feathery tail curling curiously in a playful manner; it would take seconds for him to pounce—if only there wasn’t a window in his way.

“I could make it, I would.”

“I have a better chance of getting to those stupid, tasteless birds than you,” Georgio—a golden hued Burmese python hissed from his glass enclosure—“last I recall you won’t even step foot onto the back porch, so how are you going to chase after any birds, let alone catch one?”

“That’s not true,” Manny growled, “you know what happened to me last time…”

“Not what I heard,” Lavender, a brown and white Papillon challenged from her pillow in the corner. Her long, fringed butterfly shaped ears framed her head like angel wings.

“Besides, who are you trying to fool, you have nothing to prove, you are far older than any of us; can’t help it Tom and Nancy give me more freedom. You need to move on and let the past go, be free...”

“You’re a dog Lavender, a dog. I’m a cat. I have better things to do than to walk around a yard and get dirty; it’s called prestige, you could learn something from me.” Manny continued as he swatted at Lavenders small, pointy, pretentious snout.

“Why’d you even get up from your pillow, it’s not like you are going to do anything.”

“How do you know,” Lavender replied, her face appearing stoic and uninterested as she watched Manny grow increasingly bothered by every second that passed.

“Can’t help it you’re a frou-frou little baby, a plump, annoying, oversized Persian who can’t get a little dirt on his paws.”

“Lavender, I’m warning you,” Manny continued, hanging precariously off the side of the windowsill nearest a small settee—but it was too late, he couldn’t catch his grip as he slowly dwindled down along with the curtain strands as the blinds lifted up.

“Dammit Manny, Dammit,” Georgio hissed—“you opened the curtains again. Good job, it’s going to be hours before Tom and Nancy get home to close them back.”

“It’s not my fault, Lavender started it.”

“Manny—get a grip, see I didn’t have to lift a finger; you did it to yourself. But since you’re already on the ground, while don’t you join me outside, out back on the patio?” Lavender queried, nodding towards the sliding back door where a cut-out in the wall featured a small cat-door that was large enough to fit a medium sized dog—and seeing as to how Manny never used it, it might as well have been called a doggy-door.

Manny gulped; thankful his long cloudy gray fur covered most of his emotion.

“Me go with you out there?” Manny answered, turning his head back towards the open expanse now viewed from the window.

“Yep, me you and the yard; there are birds and worms, squirrels and other cats too—maybe you can make a new friend. You can’t live your whole life shuttered in this prison.”

“I sure can…” Manny began, the gulp in his throat felt more like a hair-ball as he began to nervously lick his whiskers, creeping slowly to the glass door. Outside of his own reflection the yard appeared larger than usual; the fence much farther back than he last remembered. He thought about stepping one paw out of the swinging plastic door, just one paw wouldn't hurt.

"Almost there, you can do it..." Lavender cheered him on, stepping closer as though to push him through. Manny's ears perked, something rumbled overhead; the grass smelled a bit more Earthy than usual—he couldn't do it, he wouldn't.

“I’ve got everything I need right here in this house—shelter, food, water and constant, annoying companionship.” Manny declared, straightening his back and sitting up as high as he could, glancing back at Lavender and Georgio with a huff.

“I agree, I agree,” Georgio hissed gingerly from his enclosure as he adjusted himself on a hollowed out log at gave Lavendar a slinky smile—“annoying companionship is right, I’m surprised you never wanted to live like your ancestors Manny—cats are nomadic by nature, you should be out there forging the way, showing us how it’s done; maybe eating a frog or a lizard or something. Bringing a dead rabbit in for dinner...that sort of thing.”

"He's just scared," Lavender started, "a scared, spineless little kitty afraid of his own shadow. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"I'm not scared..."

The words barely escaped Manny's lips when a loud crash exploded, echoing through the house.

"Famous last words," Georgio hissed nervously as the three of them sat quietly waiting for whatever would come next.

"It's happening again," Manny cried, jumping up towards the window to look out at the neighboring street where cars whizzed by in their usual fashion.

"I should have known, I should have known..."

"What's happening again?" Lavender asked, jumping up on the back of the recliner to get a better angle but nothing was there, nothing was different.

"You wouldn't understand, you've never experienced life outside of here," Manny began. "It isn't what it's all chalked up to be..."

An even more sullen expression appeared on Manny's smooshed face.

"It's not the noise it's what happens after the noise, what the noise brings...you would never go back out there if you knew."