A patter of small feet close by jolts me from my stupor. I scent a rabbit and, normally, this would be cause for a chase as rabbits rate high on a feline's list of delicacies. But this afternoon is different from other days and I am not hungry. The rabbit stops and looks at me audaciously. I can't believe her nerve.

"Don't you realize I'm a cat?" I ask.
"Oh, oh,' squeeks the bunny, 'I thought you were dead!"
"Dead', I exclaim, 'I was just thinking. Haven't you ever seen an animal think before?"
"Well, perhaps not that HARD" exclaims the rabbit.
"What are you thinking about, if I might inquire?"
"My friend, Elgin, if it means anything to you," I exclaim in exasperation.
"I don't know him but I'll be your friend. I'm Fern because I live in the forest ferns."
"Good a cause for a name as any," I reply.
"Okay, we'll be friends, Fern," I tell her, "Are you alone?"
"An owl killed my family and I'm all that's left," Fern answered simply.
"An owl?"
"Yes,' stated Fern, 'and they take cats. too. So do hawks."
"CATS,' I hiss,'cats?"
"Certainly,' continued Fern, 'even grown cats are no match for the large birds. Soon it will be time for them to begin hunting."

It was then that I noticed that the sun had slipped below the horizon and it was getting late. Perhaps Elgin was waiting for me at home and, certainly, dinner would be waiting in my small blue bowl in the kitchen which always smelled of warm spices and comfort.
"Gotta go, Fern. It was a pleasure meeting you. Maybe we'll see one another again some day."
"Be careful,' said Fern, 'and keep your eyes and ears open"
But I was already loping across the darkening fields toward the lighted window I could not yet see and the highway which lay between. Across the hay stubble I ran, across meadow grass and onto the black pavement of the roadbed. Then there were bright lights bearing down, blinding, confusing, growing quickly closer........

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