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The Paws Claus

Chapter 1: Home

Spooky and Boo are nursing peacefully while Mama affectionately soothes them each with her tongue. They are just about six weeks old. Spooky is good at hiding. He wears his ebony black coat like camouflage. When he feels threatened or scared, he will close his eyes and disappear within the shadows believing if he cannot see what scares him, it cannot see him. He is a strong little guy and quite muscular. Mama says, one day, he will look like a small and powerful leopard.

Spooky is very nosy and eager to explore. Red, blue, green and yellow bobbles hang from every branch of the tree in the living room. Oh, how he wants to climb that tree.

"One of these days I will be big enough to jump on a branch and I will sniff and touch everything," he says while cleaning milk off his face.

"If you do, Groush will skin you alive." Boo stops cleaning her paws to point at him, "You will look like a naked rat!" Holding her tummy, she laughs at her own joke.

"You just wait and see." He mutters to himself.

He will show her who the cat of the jungle is. As soon as he is big enough, he will bat one of those red bobbles to Boo so they can play with it together.

Groush never holds Spooky and Boo like his wife, Lily does. He never pets or talks to them either. He only yells, hits and grabs. When he is near the kittens always hide. He carries a stick and smells like earthworms. He always waves that stick and yells. Boo doesn't think he has any lips. Mama says that's because he hasn't any teeth.

Boo waits until Groush is napping and tip-toes nose to nose to have a look. Unfortunately, she is so close, Groush sucks her whiskers up his nostrils while snoring. It must tickle because he reaches up to swipe at his nose. Boo is so fast his hand only grazes her fur. Surprised, Groush opens his eyes in confusion. It is a good thing she is too fast for Groush to catch, but Mama sure did. After a swat to her furry butt, she makes Boo sit in the corner with her nose touching the wall. Eventually Boo falls asleep, and Mama is no longer mad.

Boo is both smaller and smarter than Spooky. Spooky is lovable and has the IQ of a bobblehead. When he thinks of something to do, his eyes glaze over, and his head bobs up and down excitedly.

Boo is dainty and princess-like. When she drinks from her bowl her little pinkey sticks out just like those southern belles in the movies. She likes to play house. She is the "mommy" who pretends to feed and bathe Spooky the “baby”. Boo loves to dress him in the baby clothes Lily gave to them. Spooky hates it. 

He grumbles, "I don't want to be the baby. I want to play cowboys and kittens. We always do what you want. It's not fair!"

He complains to Mama and says, "Boo always gets her way."

"That's because I am the oldest!" Boo insists. "You have to do what I tell you."

"Only six minutes!" Spooky yells flapping his arms like a duck with newly clipped wings.

Boo looks at him and with a flick of her tail, turns her rump and sashays away, knowing how he hates to be ignored.

Frustrated, Mama shakes her head. "One day I am going to tie your tails together and hang you on  a doorknob."

 

Maybell

Chapter 2: Maybell

Mama tells her kitties to "Shh". She listens to Groush slam the screen-door as he walks in. This is an indicator that he wants to pick a fight with Lily.

"Woman!" Roars Groush. "Did you feed the cow sugar cubes again?" 

"Yes, I did." Lily softly replies.

"You know I hate when you do! It makes her milk too sweet. Why do you continue to feed her sugar?" He growls.

Lily, who is stuffing a turkey for tomorrow's Christmas dinner, glares at Groush above her wooden spoon. "I fed Maybell a little sugar because it's Christmas Eve and she loves it. It does not make her milk sweet. You are so sour everything tastes sweet to you." She snaps.

Waving and pointing his cane at some boxes in the kitchen he bellows, "I thought I told you to have this junk throwed out afore I got home. You aint got rid of a single thing!"

He raises his cane up and smashes one of the boxes startling Spooky and Boo who jump and take off running. Spooky knocks over the sugar bowl with his tail while scrambling out of the kitchen. 

Grouse's face grows red with rage, and he raises his cane to strike Spooky. Narrowly missing, Spooky runs like the wind into the living room and under the couch.

Mama leads Boo under the couch with Spooky. The kittens are so scared they are shaking. Trying to soothe her young, Mama begins telling them about Lily.

"She has a wonderful heart and is always wanting to help others. This is partly why she collects all this stuff. Lily attaches herself to her things because she is lonely. All she has are us and Maybell. Groush certainly pays her no heed. She saves everything because 'You never know when it might come in handy.'" Said Mama doing her best imitation of Lily. This made the kittens relax a little and smile.

Mama draws her young ones close and says, "Lily likes reminding Groush how much money she saves. When she packs him a lunch in a bread bag, she likes to point out how smart she is for keeping it."

Mama looks down at her nursing kittens. They are nearly asleep. Mama smiles down at her sleeping babies. Unfortunately, Groush is still yelling and throwing things around. She worries over Lily, wondering if she is okay. Listening intently, she hopes everything is alright. Not wanting to wake her young ones, Mama nestles down with them and is soon asleep.

Groush

 Chapter 3:  Groush

Tired of hearing Groush growling at her, Lily turns the heat down on the stove. She turns her back on him and walks out of the kitchen.

She moves slowly. Mama says it is because she is

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: The Phoenix Writer
Bildmaterialien: http://www.graphicsfactory.com/clip-art
Lektorat: The Phoenix Writer
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 27.12.2013
ISBN: 978-3-7309-7170-3

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Widmung:
To my future granchildren. My heart and spirit are with you always.