SIXTY

I was feeding Ash when I looked at him.

He sat down and when he was down he did a lazy and quick meow.

I was shocked to look at him...

How are you so fat?!

Where does it come from?!

But I found out a few days later.

I was reading a book when Olivia called me and said it was an emergency. I slid down the stairs and saw Ash.

He was lying down, motionless, upside down.

I ran to him and yelled,"Ash! What's wrong with you?! You better not be pulling my leg again."

"He's not!"Olivia yelled.

I freaked out when she said that and picked him up by his upper body. His lower body dangled as I ran up the stairs and Olivia said,"Mark is in the living room."

I calmed down and said,"Oh, okay...aaaaah!! Mark!!!"

He looked at me and asked,"What's wrong? Why are you yelling?"

"It's Ash! I think he's sick!"

"Okay, you get him to the car, I'll get the keys."He said and ran away.

In the car, I rubbed his grey fur anxiously then Olivia touched my hand and said,"It's gonna be okay."

I felt a lot better.

I was walking paces outside the vet's office then Mark came out with Ash's basket with a white cloth over it, he said,"Tommy, I have something important to tell you."

"What?"

He removed the cloth and I was in awe as Olivia came closer...

I saw a litter of nine kittens and Mark said,"Ash has been pregnant all this time, but had trouble giving birth."

"I didn't know Ash was a girl."Olivia said.

"Neither did I."I said.

"Do you want to see her."Mark asked.

"Do I?"

He led me in and I stopped...was that Ash?

She looked so...catty and sassy as she sat with one paw in front of the other like some cat queen and she had immediately lost half her entire body weight.

She let out a foxy meow and I was stunned.

"Are you sure that's the right cat?"I asked.

Mark nodded.

"Can I pet her?"Olivia asked.

"Of course."Mark said.

She touched Ash's head and Ash purred with her eyes closed. Turning her head up to get more of the rub.

I still wondered how Ash was still fat when she was a kitten.

Well, maybe the girl version of Ash is better than the boy version.

We took Ash and her kittens home and immediately bought them a huge isolation compound, fitted with automatically filling milk, water and feed bowls and walls which were padded with soft, white cushions on the inside.

It looked like a whole compound and Ash looked glad to have it.

In the time I was more open and happy, I found out Lucille had begun a modelling and acting career and had already won three awards, just like her mom.

She had even become bold enough to start singing and was famous. She composed her own songs and did her own stunts.

She was amazing and I clapped for her as her name was mentioned in an award ceremony as the best child actress for the year. The runner up stormed off the stage when she was given the bouquet.

Lucille gave her speech and came to take a seat by her mom, Olivia, Mark and me.

We were leaving the building when Ms Lucy said to me,"Umm, Tommy, there's something I have to tell you."

"Sure, what?"

"Well, I'm..."

There was a loud bang.

The crowd started screaming and Ms Lucy pulled Lucille and a bullet just zipped past her ear.

They hid behind a statue and Mark pulled Olivia and me behind a wall.

The bullets kept hitting the statue and Ms Lucy dived and safety rolled behind a tree.

She ran three steps up the wall of the building and tic tacked of two parallel walls to get to the shooter.

Before he could react, she jumped and twirled horizontally in the air and kicked him in the cheek.

He was dazed as Ms Lucy took the gun and held him at gunpoint.

He was arrested and I saw in the crowd, that same runner up, glaring at Lucille in a deadly way. I put my arm around her shoulder to give that girl the message that Lucille was safe no matter what she did.

The cops interrogated him and he gave a riddle as to who hired him. The result had three suspects and Celestine was one of them, the runner up.

She hurled insults at the cops for arresting her and threw a tantrum when she was being taken to the into the interrogation room that they let her go just so she'd shut up.

When she was let go, she ran towards Lucille to get in a cat fight but Lucille turned to her side, held her arm and threw her over her shoulder.

Celestine screamed in pain and made a scene as to how devilish Lucille was and how much of a hipocrite.

See who's talking.

She also insulted Ms Lucy that she had trained her daughter like a guard dog, but Ms Lucy kept calm. I just looked at her as she rolled on the floor and squirmed.

No wonder she was runner up, she was a good actress and several people came to her aid. We just left.

I got home before I remembered Ms Lucy wanted to tell me something earlier so I called her and said,"Hi Ms Stone, remember you wanted to tell me something before the shoot out?"

She nodded and said,"I'm getting married next week and I want you to be the ring bearer."

My jaw dropped and I said,"What? To whom?"

"To my old boyfriend."

"Isn't it a little soon?"

"We've been dating for well over a year Tommy."

"Can Mark come?"

"To crash my wedding? No way."

"Please?"

"Ugh fine, but he's not getting any food, I won't accept any gifts and he's sitting at the worst seat."

"Agreed."

I went to tell Mark immediately and said,"Mark, Ms Stone's getting married and she invited you."

"I'm not going."

"What? Why?"

"She's probably going to have me assassinated."

"No, no, no. No strings attached."

"Still not going."

"Please?"

"...ugh fine, but I'm not eating or bringing any gifts and I'm sitting somewhere where no one will see me."

That's ironic.

"Okay."