Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? (Cody)

It was one of those days for Kate- a good day. The sun shone over the fields of wildflowers; the clouds formed childish shapes in the blue, deep sky and the breeze playfully flipped the girl’s skirts up in front of the men passing along the street. The six-year-old picked another flower and added it to the bunch in her hand, humming happily at the prospect of her good deed.

She was picking the flowers to take to an old woman’s house; one who she noticed had no one in the world, like her. No hell hounds coming after her, no master to love her, she was perfectly satisfied in the calming embrace of the afternoon day. She picked a few more of the yellow wildflower, the bunch in her hand getting quite big by this time.

“I hope she likes the flowers,” Kate murmured. She had actually visited the old woman before this point, and she liked the elderly because she usually received a sweet of some kind or at least a soft word from them. Plus, for some reason, the woman liked to keep stray cats in her home, and Kate loved cats. Even if they were missing patches of fur or had been in a nasty fight with a dog, the woman took them in and Kate came to visit them and pet them. She got up and dusted off the remains of her dress. Maybe the pregnant cat had become a mommy by now. Kate hoped so, since she loved kittens. It had been at least two weeks since she last visited. She began to wade through the tall grasses of the field, the cottage on the outskirts of the forest already visible.

The woman might not be home, if she were out looking for more strays or hurt cats in the city. If she wasn’t, Kate would simply crawl through one of the windows, which were always open, and put the flowers in a glass. She parted the last of the grass and walked over towards the sun-kissed cabin. She was not aware she was being watched.