Cindee & Friends

“Go go go …”

I screamed as the glowing red dot shot across the floor with Rapi in hot pursuit. The dot disappeared and the large orange cat skidded to a stop. He just stood there, head sagging and tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“Are you alright Rapi?” I was a little concerned about him. I mean he is more than a little out of shape and right at this moment he wasn’t looking that great.

“Sure, Sure, just need to rest for a second,” he panted.

The dot reappeared behind him and zoomed across the room. Yehudi tore off after it. She was closing the gap fast and just about to catch it when the dot stopped and made an abrupt u-turn. Undeterred the little black cat dug her nails into the carpet and kicked her legs out to the side. Can you believe she landed in the perfect position to keep up the chase? The glowing point of light sped across the floor on top of the love seat and back across the room, passing right in front of Rapi.

I closed my eyes and cringed, expecting Yehudi to land on top of the still wheezing orange cat. Leaping from the love seat her front paws landed on the floor. I peered out from behind my own paws and watched on in horror. Yehudi kicked her back legs up and into the air.

“Rapi, look out!” I tried to warn him, but it was too late.

Friends, it was either a miracle or Yehudi has a secret life as an acrobat that none of us know about. Somehow, she had managed to land safely on the other side of Rapi and keep on going.

“Woooohoooo!” I shouted with unabashed joy. Rapi looked up, stunned to see the little black cat tearing around the house, keeping pace with the red dot at every zig and zag.

“You go girl!” I wasn’t able to contain my enthusiasm.

Both the laser and Yehudi raced past me. I leaped from the sofa and joined in the chase.

“Go go go, get it Yehudi!” I urged her on. By now, I was chasing Yehudi who was chasing the red dot.

“Cindee!” Mommy yelled really loud.

Uh oh. I forgot again. Mommy doesn’t like me to chase the dot, but I just couldn’t resist. It looked like too much fun not to join in. The red dot disappeared.

“You are being naughty,” Mommy scolded me.

Rapi and Yehudi stared at her. I really didn’t mean to be trouble.

“I’m sorry Mommy.” I put my head down and slowly meandered over to give her a kiss.

“Do you accept my apology?” I whined.

Mommy smiled at me and stroked the hairs on my head.

“I know you want to play too, but you get too excited and lose control and scare the cats sweetie.”

Mommy had forgiven me and kissed me back.

“True that!”

Everyone turned to look at the grey and white cat that had just crawled out from under the loveseat.

“That’s not nice, Bella!” Rapi’s deep Cuban voice shot back at her. Bella shrugged and wandered off towards the stairs.

“Sorry Cindee,” Yehudi apologized for Bella’s outburst. Mommy set the pointer down, then got up to follow Bella up the stairs.

“Game over,” Rapi said matter of factly.

“Game over,” Yehudi echoed, only a little sadder, and to emphasize the point, she stared longingly up at the red dot maker.

“Sorry,” I whimpered over my shoulder. I took my guilt and jumped back up on the sofa and stared out the window for a little while until finally I dozed off.

Thud! … Bang! …

I was startled awake by a loud commotion. I jumped to my feet and looked around at my surroundings. I was still a little disoriented and trying to get my bearings but was fairly certain Daddy just ran past me in his winter coat and gloves. This just didn’t seem right. I mean we just had all those boomies for Independence Day.

“Get away from me you monster,” Rapi called out over his shoulder as he sprinted past me.

“What the heck,” I asked nobody in particular.

Daddy whizzed past me in a blur. I am now able to confirm that he was indeed wearing a parka and thick gloves. I still am not sure what is going on. I looked out the window and saw the green grass and the trees also covered in leaves of green. The guy across the street was outside in his shorts cutting the grass.

“Daddy finally cracked,” I said aloud.

I saw them coming back towards me.

“They are going to put me in a box, we are going to the vet!” Rapi screeched on his way past me. He was on his way to the dining room and Daddy was not too far behind him, only now Mommy was chasing Daddy with a towel.

I had to help my friend, so I sprung into action, doing the only thing I could think of on short notice. I waited for them to come back my way, and when Daddy was right in front of me …

“Cowabunga!” I yelled. I leapt from the sofa and flung my body into Daddy. We hit the ground with a crash. Maybe I didn’t accomplish much, but I did buy Rapi a few seconds to come up with a plan.

Daddy climbed to his feet and raced after Rapi. The big orange cat was running on pure fear. He dodged his way around Daddy. Then, Mommy did something strange and unexpected. Instead of trying to grab Rapi, she draped the towel along the ground forming a little wall. Rapi detoured around it and ran directly into the bathroom. Mommy quickly shut the door behind him.

“He’s done,” I shook my head and muttered to myself. I watched Mommy and Daddy carefully slip into the bathroom, and less then a minute later they emerged with the carrier.

Rapi glared out at me from behind the bars.

“I’m sorry. I tried …” he cut me off with a hiss.

“Run Cindee, you are coming with me!” he growled.

I swallowed hard and turned to run, but before I could take a step I bumped into Mommy’s legs.

Click, went the leash onto my necklace.

“Dumb dog,” Rapi growled.

“I’m not going!” I turned my back on Mommy and got into protest position. I was determined that I was not going to move.

“Let’s go Cinnamon,” she pleaded with me.

“No!” I barked emphatically. Nothing can make me move!

Daddy walked past me and waved a cookie in front of my nose and kept on going. I quickly rose to my feet and followed the cookie out the front door. Rapi rolled his eyes at me.

“What?” I asked.

We trotted out to the waiting car and inside, where I got my cookie for being a good girl.

“Nothing,” the cat said, obviously dejected and defeated.

“We are here!”

I barked out as loud as I could. I do that whenever we go for a ride. I just can’t control myself. My goofy humans think it is so cute how I yell as loud as I can. I think they are cute too, especially the way they pretend to be annoyed.

“Shut up!” Rapi hissed. He poked me in the butt with one of his nails to drive the point home.

“Hey,” I started to complain.

“Shut it!” he growled holding up his paw to show all of his exposed nails.

“I get it. Jeez, you don’t got to be so rude,” I grumbled.

We waited in the car while Mommy went inside. She always goes inside first, no matter where we go. She likes to tell people I have “social anxiety” can you believe that?

She wasn’t gone long, and as soon as she was back we went right inside and directly to the exam room.

“One of the perks of social anxiety,” I whispered to Rapi.

“Shut … Up!” he glared at me from behind the bars.

What a handsome ball of fluff …

The nurse said. She took Rapi out of his carrier and plopped him down on the scale. He played dead.

“Oh boy, some one has to go on a diet!” Her voice sounded like she liked her job a little bit too much. Rapi just glowered at her.

I sat quietly in the corner watching Mommy and Daddy get interrogated by the nurse until the doctor came in and saved them. Doctor Bob was his name, and I liked him. A lot. He was short and round and had white hair. Kind of like Santa Clause, if he ever decided to shave.

Doctor Bob messaged Rapi all over while he talked to Mommy and Daddy in a nice gentle voice. Did I mention I like Doctor Bob? Rapi looked like he was enjoying every second of it. You could see it in his face and the way his muscles relaxed and that weird purring thing that cats do.

I smiled at Doctor Bob and he smiled back at me. He grabbed a stick thingy. Rapi glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the doctor too. Without any notice Doctor Bob stuck the stick into Rapi’s butt.

“Oh no!” Rapi cried.

“Oh, that’s not right!” I barked.

Doctor Bob reassured Rapi it was okay. Thank goodness for my orange friend it only lasted a minute.

“Temperature is good,”

Next Doctor Bob took the headphone thingy from around his neck and put one end in his ears like he was going to listen to some music and held the other end with the big silver coin in his hands.

I looked at Rapi. The poor guy had started to sweat and his eyes were pleading with me to help him. Both Rapi and I were relieved when the doctor didn’t do anything strange with the silver coin thingy. He just held it against Rapi’s chest and sides and listened.

“Sounds good,” he said.

After looking into Rapi’s ears, eyes, nose and mouth he was declared overweight but otherwise healthy.

Your turn sweetie …

Mommy said as she led me to Doctor Bob. He reached over and gave me scratches on my head. I was waiting and ready for the stick up my butt. Guess what? It never happened.

Doctor Bob laid me down on the floor. He gently took my leg into his hands and bent and straightened out my ankle a couple of times. Then he did the same thing with my knees and hips. This wasn’t so bad.

After he looked at my legs Doctor Bob checked my eyes, ears and sniffer just like he did with Rapi. That was it. I was done.

“Check her temperature!” Rapi yelled out to Doctor Bob from the carrier. The nice doctor stopped and turned around.

“I almost forgot. One more thing Cindee,” he said.

“Darn you Rapi,” I whispered to him.

“Here you go Cindee, You have been a good girl,” he said.

In his hand he held a cookie that he offered to me. I took it and thanked him. My goodness, it was a super yummy cookie too.

“Bye, bye,” he said, patting me on top of the head.

“Bye!” I said to him, before stopping, turning and trotting back to him to give him a kiss.

“Let’s go,” Mommy said, and we were on our way home.

A crescent moon hung in the night sky.

Rapi stared out at it from the big glass doors in the dining room. If he craned his neck just right, he could see several stars twinkling as well.

I sat next to him, looking at the reflection of the big brown dog with the floppy ears and her orange cat friend.

“Today wasn’t so bad was it?” I asked.

“No, not really.”

I glanced over at him and wondered what he was thinking. He was clearly contemplating something. You could see it in the way he stared out into the night sky.

“Why am I so scared?”

He looked over at me. I wasn’t sure if he was expecting an answer or just wondering aloud.

“Every time we go out, I fight and struggle against it, then, at the end of the day, when everything is over, I ask myself why?”

I leaned over and kissed him on top of his head.

“I don’t know Rapi. I mean, I might not be the best person to ask. After all, I am the dog that is afraid of her own shadow.”

We sat quietly for a minute.

“Maybe it is just part of living,” I thought aloud.

“Maybe,” he conceded.

A streak of light flashed across the sky.

“Whoa, Cindee, did you see that?”

“A shooting star,” I said, still a little startled.

“Cool!”

“Very cool, Rapi!”

He looked over at me and smiled.

“I’m glad I got to see it with you,” he said, brushing up against me.

“Me too,” my heart filled with contentment, “me too!”