"SheCat"

  I guess it was about six months ago that I moved into my new house.  I had sacrificed and saved money for years before I had enough to buy the little plot of land just outside of town and to have a house custom built on it.  I used to live in an apartment in town when I saw a for sale sign on the plot.

  I had never really paid much attention to the plot until I saw the sign, then I started thinking about it and finally decide it would be a nicel place to live.  It was close enough to town to drive to work without having to wake up any earlier, but it was far enough to get away from the noise.  There wasn't another building around for at least a quarter of a mile except for a small house on the next plot, but I wasn't bothered by it.

  The house looked like it had been empty and progressively falling apart for about thirty years, but I saw it as a good thing.  Not only did it lowwer the cost  of the plot I wanted, it pretty much drove away anyone who might have otherwise bought any of the surrounding property.  I was confidant that my little hope for the future was safe.  My confidence lowered, though, when over two years ago I saw that someone had bought that decreped house and was having it fixed up.

  I drove by it every once in a while to scope it out and see if I could get some idea of what kind of neighbors I would be having.  All I ever saw were workers until the house was finished, and even after the work had been completed, I saw no owners.  At one point, for a straight week, I drove out in the mornings before work, on my lunch break, or right after work and knocked on the door, but no one ever answered.

  The only sign of life was a sleek, black cat that always showed itself one way or another when I knocked.  It just looked out the window the first couple of days, but eventually poked its head out throught its little kitty door to say hello.  With a few friendly gestures on my part, by the end of the week, it was rubbing up against my leg and purring as I scratched under its chin.

  Before I left, I asked the cat if I should try later in the evening.  The cat just closed its eyes and grinned.  I came back a few nights since, but the car was always gone, and still no one was there.  I eventually gave up and decided that if they were so often not home, then they were going to be fine neighbors, and leave it at that.

  After continued months of sacrifice and saving, I started working with an architect and designed the house I wanted built.  I wanted something spacious, but not huge.  I had always wanted a loft apartment instead of the cramped, low rent hole in the wall I put up with, so I decided I'd have my loft.  A couple of sturdy pillars took the place of a lot of needless walls, and I was happy.  My dreams were starting to come true.

  When the house was finally built, I decided  to celebrate its completetion by taking all the vacation time I'd wracked up over the years.  For the next two months, I was going to be spending my time relaxing and becomeing one with my new house.  I was going to sleep all day and stay up all night.  Maybe even stay up all day and night, then sleep all the next day and night.  I had worked my ass off, so now I was going to sit on it long enough to get it firmly reattached.

  On my first day, I once more picked up my pursuit of the neighbors, which was much easier since I was right next door all the time, but like all the other days, no one was home but the cat.  I was surprised it remembered me.  I knocked on the door, and after few seconds, I saw its head pop up at the window then dissappear before it reappeared at the kitty door.

  I had nothing better to do, and the cat seemed starved for affection, so I sat on the porch swing and pet the cat.  I held it and stroked it and talked to it every once in a while.  It purred and walked all over me and licked me every once in a while.  I'd sat there for almost a full hour before I realized I was getting hungry.

  I believe it was almost five-thirty when I put the cat down, walked across the neighbor's driveway, and back to my own front door.  I opened the front door, stepped in, and began to close it when I heard a meow.  I looked back, surprised to see that the cat had followed me.  I let it in and shut the door.  I made myself some dinner, poured a bowl of milk for the cat, and we both sat on the couch to eat and watch television.

  After I finished eating, I just set my plate aside and pet the cat some more until the tv show was over, then got up to wash the dishes we used, so it was about seven when I was in the kitchen from where I heard a terrible yowling.  It startled me at first because I didn't know what the hell it was.  I had never heard such a sound before.  It was the sound of nails scratching on wood that soon joined it that made me realize it was the cat.

  I ran from the kitchen area wondering what could be happening to the poor creature to drive it to such a cry.  The cat seemed to be in a panic to get outside, and I don't mean for something like taking a shit, unless its owners had dealt it some seriously harsh punishment for going on the floor or something.  The cat seemed terrified.

  I ran and opened the door, and before the door was even six inches open, the cat bolted out at a blinding speed.  By the time I got my own head out the door, I saw the cat going through the front kitty door of the neighbor's house.  I was thinking, Shit.  What the hell was that all about?  I looked around to see if maybe the neighbors had come home or were driving up the road, but there was no one around.  I shut the door and went back to the dishes.

  Minutes later I heard the wailing again, only it seemed more painful, as if the creature were being hurt.  The kitchen window faced the neighbor's house, so I looked out at the house.  It was too dark to see clearly, and there were no lights on in the house, at least none that I could see through the uncovered windows, so I discounted any torture the cat might be going trough at the hands of its onwers, who still were not back.  I just hoped the cat was okay.  It was a kind and beautiful cat.  I really liked it.