Sophia Cundiff

The One That Got Away

It was a humid August night in Abilene, Kansas when Abby and I were walking home from the local fair. We  were walking down the dark street on the uneven sidewalk when all of the sudden a small dark figure runs in front of me into the bushes. I scream, "Abby, watch out!"

Abby quickly turned around and said, "Why?" And then she saw that the shadow was a cat about the size of a small plate.

Abby coaxed the small bony cat out of the bushes and I said, "Abby we should just leave it, what if has rabies?" Abby promptly without saying a word picked up the cat and started walking back to her great grandma's house.

When I caught up with her I looked at the cat and immediately fell in love with it and Abby and I decided to take it the rest of the way home. Once we got back I walked into the house and said, "Mrs. Smith, we found a cat."

Mrs. Smith then walked outside to Abby who was carrying the cat and said, "Out of all things you could've done you found a cat!" Abby then told her mom how we found the cat.

Mrs. Smith said, "I'm sorry guys but I'm not sure if we will be able to keep her, especially because of how long she would be in the car on our way back to Roanoke and we already have enough pets."

Abby then, with big puppy dog eyes, said, "But mom if we don’t keep her then she wont have anywhere to live and then she might!"

Mrs. Smith looked at the cat and it was so skinny that you could see its ribs, then said, "We will talk about it in the morning." We fed the cat and then Abby and I went to bed.

As Abby and I were getting ready for bed we kept on going outside into the open garage to check on the cat. Once we finally settled down and got ready for bed Abby asked, "Sophie, are you still awake?"

I replied, "Yes, why?"

Then Abby said, "I'm scared she's going to run away should we set an alarm?"

I said yes and we set and alarm to wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning the following day.

Abby woke me up the next morning after the alarm went off and silently motioned for me to get ready and to meet her in the garage. Once Abby and I got into the garage we couldn’t find the cat and we started frantically looking outside in the dark cool morning air and everywhere in the garage. I was looking next to the car when I saw small eyes on top of the car's tire and heard a quiet meow. I called Abby over and told her that I found it and then we played with it.

Later in the morning, when Abby and I were still playing with the cat Abby said, "It needs a name." A little bit later Abby thought of the perfect for the small delicate kitten, "We should name her Annie, because she has some orange in her hair and because she doesn’t have parents just like the orphan from the movie "Annie"!" Thinking the name was pure genius we proudly told Abby's brother and his best friend Seth how we had found the cat as well as the name that we had decided on.

Mrs. Smith came out soon after and we told her that we named the cat and she said, "Don’t get to attached because we aren't going to be able to keep it!"

Abby then spoke for all of us and said, "It's little bit to late for that!"

Mrs. Smith said, "I'm sorry but we need to find a home for it here in Abilene. You can go down to the fair in the day because they have farmers up there with there horses and cows and maybe they would like a cat."

All of us groaned and said, "Okay." Abby and I decided to go ahead and take Annie down to the fair to look to give her to someone. We got a basket put a towel in it and made a sign that said "Free Kitten." We slowly walked back to the fair secretly hoping that we would not be able to find an owner.

Once we had gotten to the fair we had some trouble finding someone that wanted the cat. We were just getting ready to leave because the stench of all of the animals smelled like a the worlds largest most foul smelling trashcan, when an older lady with blue eyes and long gray wavy hair came up to us and said, "So I see you have a kitten for sale, I own a farm and I have one other that helps catch mice in the barn and I'm sure he gets lonely I think he might need a friend. Are you giving away this cat for free?"

Abby replied, "Yes we are, the cats name is Annie, what's your name?"

The lady then said, "My name is Sue."

"My name is Sophia and this is Abby, would you like to have Annie?" I said.

"Yes, I would love too! Would it be alright if I got her tonight at the fair so I could go home and get a cage? I can meet you at the barn where I have all of my horses before the rodeo starts." We said yes and started our even slower and sadder journey home to tell the bad news.

When Abby and I got home we told her mom that we had found a home for Annie and then we told Tegen and Seth. We spent the last few hours before we had to give her away playing with her.

When it was time to start heading over to the fair Abby, Tegen, Seth, and I took turns carrying Annie to the fair. Once we found Sue at the fair we gave Annie our biggest hugs and said our last goodbye to her knowing that we will never see her again. It was at this moment in my life that I realized that no everything in life is permanent and things that you think cant happen to you can.