Leo G.

Kitty Pitty

Cats here, cats there, cats everywhere.  Sophie looked around.  Those little fluff balls were adorable. But then there was a distant sound that got louder...nunu nunu nunu nunu...over and over again that brought her back to reality… It was only a dream.

Sophie looked down at her watch but she had to push back the blond mess that blocked her view. 6:30, her watch read as she admired the slick black 38mm that looked glossy, almost meticulous. It was early and she could hear her sister breathing heavily next to her with her favorite stuffed animal uni the unicorn all worn and old with rips and food stains all over.  She felt a small smile start to spread across her face as she stumbled over all the stuffed animals that she and her sister had played pretend with the night before pretending the animals were in school and learning with their teacher Mr. Muffin. “Brrr,” said Sophie as her feet hit the black cold floor as the warmth was chased away.  “Almost, almost,”  Sophie, willing herself to keep going.  “Finally,” thought Sophie, as the warmth of the bathroom flooded over her like a sigh of relief as she quickly shut the door not to let the heat escape. she looked at the Amazon tap hanging from its perch on the ceiling, “Alexa what's the weather like today?” 

“The temperature is 51 degrees fahrenheit with humidity of 88, wind speeds of 3 miles an hour”.

“Alexa what's the date today?”

“The date is Thursday, November twenty-second.”

“Oh,” Sophie remembered, she was having her Thanksgiving class party today. They were supposed to make sugar turkeys and then eat them then they would go down to the gym and play catch the turkey. A couple hours later…  EEEEEEEEE!  Sophie ran out to get on the pale yellow bus. It was an older version that was way out of date with memory foam coming out of the uneven picked holes by the kids from the past. Sophie stared at the neighbor’s yellow and orange tabby that trotted next to the bus in a graceful way. Six hours later... “Hi Mom I’m home.”

Sophie did a clumsy front flip and landed on the stairs that groaned under the impact and looked at what had tripped her. It had gold fur, floppy ears, pink nose, a wagging tail and a lolling tongue. The reality struck her, this is a dog. “Mom, whose dog is this?” said Sophie nervously.

“Our dog,” Mom said laughing nervously, “I thought your sister and you want to get a pet so I thought that we might get a dog for you and your sister to share.”

“Doggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”, my little Sister said, running under my legs and pulling on the dog's tail. The dog barked, playfully wrestled from my sister's grasp and ran into the living room with my sister chasing it.

“Hey Sophie can I talk to you?” Mom said gesturing upstairs and putting a foot on the stairs. “Well, do you have any homework?”

“No,” I replied gloomily. 

“Hey they only reason I got your sister a dog was while you were at school I was going to do some errands.  And I brought her with me and we drove past the animal shelter. There was a mini goldendoodle, so she said that it was calling her name and she asked if we could get him and I said no. So she threw the worst fit ever, it was a nightmare, so I was forced to get her that dog,” Mom said, shifting uncomfortably in my glare spreading ripples in the perfect black and white bed.

“Okay,” I said, “I just want to have a couple of rules for the dog.  Number one it’s not allowed in my room, number two I don't want any of its toys in my room and number three if it touches any and I mean ANY of my stuff you have to  give it a punishment,” said trying but failing to keep the edge out of my voice.“

“Deal,” My Mom said with confidence in her voice.

A few days later…

¨Hey Sophie,” said Mom, ¨I got tested today and I am very very allergic to cats. The doctor said that people who are allergic to cats are usually allergic to dogs. He also said that there is a medication that I can take and it will stop the allergy for twelve hours or half a day.”

“Mom¨, said Sophie,¨that's great.”

“But there's just one problem¨, said Mom, the lines on her forehead making her look older.  A grave expression came across her face, drowning the happy smile. She looked away towards the dog running through the house with her obsessed child following like a little minion.  “It would be too much work for me to clean up after both a dog and a cat and if I get rid of the dog, your sister will have a mental breakdown and she wouldn't do anything,”  Mom said, her voice desperate and raspy from all the stress.

A few hours later…

Sophie woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of raspy coughing and the sound of running water.  Drowsily she said,”Alexa, what time is it?”

“The time is 1:50 A.M,”  replied the talking speaker.

“Mmmm¨, mumbled Sophie tiredly and looked down at her watch that to her surprise read 1:50 a.m.  This startled her and she went into her mom´s room. She saw her mom throwing up and drinking water at the same time and it was not a pretty sight.  It was also very messy.

“Mom?” said Sophie, unsure of why why her mom was up so early and a loom of uncertainty came across her face, ”why are you up now, Mom, you don't have to get up for another hour and twenty-five minutes?”

“Because, Sophie, I'm sick but there is a plus side”, said Mom, her face a pale ghostly white with a small smile on her face, “the doctor said that sometimes allergies will leave your body so there might be a chance that we can still get a cat because your sister Anna doesn't want the dog to get shots so it might have to go.”

Mom, looking slightly relieved that the dog had to leave, said, “Sophie the only reason I'm getting you a cat is because you will take care of it, train it, feed it, and most importantly you will love it. Your sister was really excited the first day, but the next day you remember, she went straight to the top floor to play on the XboX so you had to walk it and play with it for a bit. Go back to bed now Sophie.” The color was starting to return to Mom’s face. Sophie walked back to her bed and thought for a second what chance was there that the allergy would go away? 

She looked at the glossy screen of her watch and looked up on Google,” What is the chance that if you are sick that your allergy will go away?” 

The watch spoke back, “According to Wikipedia there is a 0.5 percent chance that an allergy will go away when you get sick.” Sophie knew not to get her hopes up because 99.5 percent of the time this didn't happen.

13 hours later...

Sophie walked home to her sister and her mom fighting over whether or not that the dog either leaves or has to get shots. It sounded something like this, “No Mommy, no I don't like shots, so dogs don't like them either.  I’m not letting you abuse this poor animal.”

“You don't understand, Anna, this will help keep the dog safe just like the flu shot keeps you

“Finnnnne”, said Anna,” we can get rid of the dog, he wasn't that interesting anyway,” and she dashed upstairs. 

Mom shot me a look of relief and started to smile then said, “Let’s go get a cat.¨

“But what about your allergy?” said Sophie slightly concerned.

¨Oh,” said Mom frowning and looking down, “I got tested today and they said I'm no longer allergic to cats,” and she smiled happily.