Pumpkin’s Leaving Town

By Carla Chait

Pumpkin, the tuxedo cat, doesn’t like to be forced into anything. He doesn’t like to be shut into a room, or trapped beneath a car, or pushed into a corner.

Pumpkin especially dislikes the little beige cat carrier in which he’s taken to the cattery when his human and dog family goes away on holiday. He dislikes the carrier so much that the mere sight of it causes all his fur to stand on end.

Pumpkin’s family is moving from their hometown inland to the seaside, and Pumpkin needs to be transported in the cat carrier for the long car drive down there.

The family tries to get Pumpkin used to the carrier before the trip. They strain to squeeze him in. They try to insert Pumpkin into the carrier sideways. He gets dangled legs first over the entrance.

Poor Pumpkin is shaking!

Their next idea is to try to entice Pumpkin into the cat carrier. They plaster the inside of the carrier with wall-to-wall blankets so that it resembles a cocoon of fluff. Pumpkin looks on, uninterested. They place a bowl of his favourite food inside the cocoon. Pumpkin pokes his head into the carrier, sniffs once, then twice, and then withdraws and glares at them for trying to trick him. He saunters outside into the garden.

In a final attempt to persuade him, the family show Pumpkin what he has to look forward to in his new life at the coast. They pull out the family album with photographs of them all on the beach, the dogs chasing a tennis ball along the shoreline. They unearth reference books, pointing to pictures of people in bathing suits, eating ice cream, lounging about suntanning, or splashing around in the sea.

‘Look,’ they encourage Pumpkin. ‘Look how cool it is. And this time, you can come with us.’

But Pumpkin is not impressed. First of all, he doesn’t like anyone – except maybe his family and the dogs a little – and, secondly, he doesn’t like water – except for drinking, preferably fresh. What is his family even thinking?! The dogs’ boundless enthusiasm for getting into the car, and getting out of the car, and going places just confirms to Pumpkin that this whole business of travelling, particularly in that minute and poor-quality cat carrier, is not for him.

One night, Pumpkin has a dream in which he is by the seaside. He sees miles and miles of golden sand and an endless pastel horizon. It’s just like his family described it, but in Pumpkin’s dream, rather than people holidaying at the coast, cats are doing so.

Cats in purple swimming trunks are relaxing under striped umbrellas, snacking on treats and sipping from water bottles. There are cats in sunhats, bikinis, and sarongs playing beach bats; cats surfing the waves and boogie boarding; cats sitting with their toes buried beneath the sand and watching as their kittens build catio sandcastles or play with motorized mice.

There are tall cats, short cats, big cats, small cats, ginger cats, tabby cats, Persian cats – all sorts of cats and cats everywhere having the best cat time!

The next morning, Pumpkin wakes up extra early before everyone, feeling refreshed and at peace. He knows that he’s going to be okay wherever he’s going with his family and the dogs. He can smell the sea from here, and he thinks he’ll have fish to eat today. Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.

When the family comes downstairs for breakfast, they find the dogs going ballistic in the living room, but what’s new? Pumpkin is fast asleep and purring like a tractor in his little beige cat carrier on the couch. He’s ready for the journey.

- Total nr. of readings: 676 Copyright © The author [2020] All Rights Reserved. This story may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author except for personal use.