Tom Cat

Vivid green eyes open slowly. The big talking box is on at a low hum. Standing up and stretching, the eyes take in the site before them. The human kitten is curled up water dripping from her eyes and staining her furless cheeks. Ah, it's one of those nights. It wasn't often Thomas found his littermate curled up in tears, but when he did, he always tried his best to make her forget. He heard the rest of his girls talking about it. Something about her mate having internal bleeding? Leaning out and stretching again with a yawn, he hopped on the top of the couch and started batting at the dangling feathers the human kitten told him not to touch. Sniffling, she turned towards him with a watery smile. "Thomas," she cooed softly, "bad boy you know you're not supposed to touch my dream catcher." Normally, he'd be offended at being called such a thing, but he knew she meant it in jest. He'd do a thousand bad things, be called a bad boy for all eternity if it made his human smile. Now distracted from her tears, his human fussed and cooed at his "cute" behavior. Good. She's smiling again. Job now done, he hopped off the couch ignoring her whine for more playtime and went to check on his youngest human kitten.

His youngest sibling was normally gone all day to a place they called, "school". Both Thomas and kitten hated it. It was early that he knew, since his middle sibling was up. The middle one was always up. Human kittens slept less than regular kittens, but his middle sibling practically never slept at all! Huffing at his human's dysfunctions, Thomas patiently waited until the room door opened and his youngest stepped out towards the litterbox room. Once that door closed, he dashed into the threshold and leaped towards the bed snatching his prize up in his powerful little jaws. Ah ha! Success! Strutting off the bed with pride, Thomas made his way to the litterbox room and pushed the large round hair tie through the small opening under the door. "What the-?! Thomas!" she yowled at him from her box. "Stop stealing my hair ties!" Mischief swelled up in his being as he shoved his paw through the opening and meowed, play taunting his fellow kitten.

His youngest slowly slid her large hind paw through the opening and tapped his paw. Thomas made a victory chirp at her intimation of play before latching his claws on her cloth covered paw. "Aw, c'mon Thomas let go! It's like 5am!" Time has no meaning in this dojo! He heard his oldest say that one time. His middle kitten gently detached his claw before chirping worriedly at him fussing over his claws. I'm fine. I'll just scratch on the rug later. She chuckled at his antics while the younger one hid her smile behind non existent fury. "Stay out of my room Thomas. You got your fur everywhere!" He huffed. It's winter. What did she expect? I have to shed my summer coat. I don't complain when they shed. The youngest pet him before going back to bed closing the door with a smile on her face. Anything for my girls. It was too early to play with the oldest, so he bounded after the middle one curling up on the headboard of the couch watching her settle down and listening to the antics of the underwater blob living in the nasty smelling orange fruit. They fell asleep together.

Being awoken by the sun, Thomas once again started his day. After a quick trip to the litterbox and a snack, he sat at the oldest door and meowed. Time to get up and play. I miss you! It's been too long! The door slid open with a creak, his oldest smiling at him and reaching down for pets. "Aww you missed me, Tommy?" Thomas twined around her legs drinking in her smile as she scratched him in all the best places. Ooh yes, right behind the ears. After a minute or two of this the excitement hit him. After all, it was morning and his oldest was up and ready to play. The "zoomies" as his girls called it, were imminent.

Thomas zoomed left, right, forwards, backwards, and sideways in every direction he knew. As he zoomed, he heard the sleepy chuckle of his middle kitten. With her up he had someone to play stalk and pounce. One thing he loved about his middle sibling was she played exactly like a regular kitten. He knew human kittens and regular kittens were different in a lot of ways, but she always tried her best to play like him. Their smiles were contagious as they worked together to tire him out. His middle sibling crawled after him on the weird bendy joins in the middle of her hind legs, while the oldest sibling would play tag with him. Eventually they all flopped down somewhere. Him, on the ground, his oldest in her rocking chair, and his middle on the couch. Settling down, they all opted for food and more underwater talking blob.

Soon, his youngest was home with Dad shuffling in and laughing along with her. From his curled-up place on the edge of the couch his heart clenched and his ear flickered. Thomas could hear what most could not, like the way Dad's breath slightly wheezed from pain he was always in but did his best to hide. "Hey Thomas." His deep voice rumbled as he bent to the best of his ability to card his thick fingers through his fur. Thomas answered with a small rumble of his own. He'll admit at first, he was scared of Dad, a large alpha male that looked like he would eat him was nothing to laugh at. But after heavy coaxing from his girls and the days they spent "male bonding" when the girls were gone, helped eased their relationship.

Peaking up from his spot at the feet of the rocking chair playing with the yarn as his oldest knit, Thomas looked straight at the door when he smelt a familiar scent. Mommy's here! His tail waggled in excitement as his middle sibling opened the door wrapping her front paws around their shared mother. He too came up to her sniffing everywhere he could wondering where she had been. "Hi Tom-Tom, did you miss mommy?" She cooed, picking him up and grooming him everywhere she could. Yes, indeed I did mother but please put me down. Sharp whining meows were his reply. Her tone shifted to a playful firm one. "Thomas, listen to mommy. Don't take that tone with me." Grumbling, Thomas resigned to his fate of coddling. He had indeed missed his mother. Her warmth and softness were always a comfort.

At dinner time after Thomas had his delicious wet food, he curled up next to his oldest sibling listening to his family laugh. Taking a moment to open his eyes and bask in the wonderous sights of their smiles he settled back down with a small smile of his own. Yes, tis a wonderful life indeed for me.