Gypsy Finds a Bus

by Mewsette

Gypsy lived in the country, and enjoyed the best of two worlds. During the day, she hunted field mice in the pastures, unless it was rainy or cold. Then she stayed inside her cozy cabin, dozing in the bay window, with her humans. She had three of them; a man, a lady, and a boy who had grown taller than the man.

The boy, Artie, was her favorite. She'd slept in his room at night since he was little and short, and she knew how to push against the loose window screen when the sun came up, dropping to the ground for her early morning hunts. Artie had told his mother he'd fixed that screen, but he was careful not to fix it too well. That was thier secret, his and Gypsy's. Gypsy was 10 years old, and she wasn't going to change her ways now!

Small and grey, with all her white fur on her tummy where it didn't show, Gypsy was an expert at blending into any place if she didn't want to be seen. And she loved to go adventuring and poking into things. She'd had many fun adventures over the years, and a few dangerous ones, too, that her humans didn't know about. Well, Artie suspected. Her favorite place to go poking around was the neighbor's property up the hill. There was a big barn she loved up there, full of hay and chicken feed, things that drew mice! And a brown speckled hen named Dinah. Dinah was old, too, and refused to live in the chicken run with the other birds. She claimed the barn for her home, but she didn't mind Gypsy coming to visit.

Besides that, the neighbors had a big truck with a boat attached, and that boat was fun to hide and play in. And now they had something new, a huge thing that looked like a bus! Gypsy had seen the school bus that Artie got into most of the year. But this one was all pretty inside, with chairs and a table, and beds and everything! She could see in the windows from halfway up a nearby tree, and oh! how she wanted to go inside!

On this fine, early summer morning, Gypsy sat watching the wonderful bus, while some humans were doing strange things to it and going in and out. When they went away, Gypsy saw that they had attached the boat to the back of the bus! Oh my! Double fun! Not only that, it looked like they left the door of the bus open just a little! Could it be? Gypsy ran to see. Yes! It was open! And Dinah came fluttering, screeching and squawking right after her.

"Let's go inside!" meowed Gypsy.

"Brawk!" screamed Dinah, "me not go in there!"

"Fraidy cat!" Gypsy mewed, and slipped through the open door easy as you please.

Oh, it was like a palace in there! Everything bright and new, soft and comfy. Lots of cubbyholes and little slidey things with pillows on them. Gypsy decided she could spend the whole day right there! Until she accidently did.

She heard Dinah squawk "Look out! Mans come!" and she heard human voices but she paid no attention. Then she heard the door close hard, and the voices went away.She stared at the closed door. Gypsy didn't like being shut in any place, not even a palace! But she was good at getting out windows, and the bus had a lot of them. She'd just try those.

Nope. All the windows were shut tight, with strange metal stuff on them. Then she saw the humans come running out of their house, pile into the truck, and drive away very fast. Well, she'd sit here in the window so they would see her and open the door when they came back. She saw Dinah walking back to the barn with her head down, muttering to herself. Gypsy felt very alone. She fell asleep in the window and dreamed uneasily until the sun came in that side and made her so hot, she woke up and jumped down to the cool table. She felt air coming from somewhere, maybe up high, but she couldn't see any opening in the ceiling. So she went exploring.

A bathroom? In a bus? Was the lid up? Of course it was, men lived here. Oh, that was a relief. It was getting hot in the bus, and Gypsy was too thirsty to care where the water was. She almost heard it go plonk! in the bottom of her empty tummy. She realized she hadn't even had breakfast. Now she wanted food, but that didn't look as hopeful.

Everything was shiny new and neat, all right. No pan on the stove with bacon drippings, no tuna salad bowl in the sink, and certainly no nice cat food on a mat in the corner, like at home. Well, there was a cupboard over the little sink, and those usually had food in them! She'd been able to open cupboards since she was a kitten. What was in this one?

Cans, that's what. Lotsa cans. Bean cans, ham cans, but nothing a kitty could open. Then she saw a package of bread. Ahh, she could open that. Just a few well placed slashes with her claws and she got a bread-bun pulled out. Kinda spongy and tasteless, but it would do. Except she ate too much and made her tummy hurt. I don't like bread, she decided.

There was no litter box or dirt in here, either. Oh dear. By now a totally miserable kitty, Gypsy went to sleep again on the table. And when she woke up, it was dark in the bus. Oh dear, she thought again. Now they won't see me in the window. She got up to look out, but nobody was out there to see her anyway. So she continued being a miserable kitty in the window all night.

The dawn woke her and she looked out to the yard. The humans didn't bring back their truck last night, she thought with a start. Where are they? Who's going to see me? Oh, where is Artie? Artie was out combing the hillside for her and calling her name, that's where, but she couldn't hear him and didn't know that. There was Dinah, circling around the bus, squawking. She couldn't see Gypsy in the window. Hens can't look up very well. Gypsy watched her circling for a while, and then got down to poke around some more and see what she could find to eat. Nothing, that's what. She got into the bottom cupboard, and even the trashcan in there was empty. Okay, back to the bread and the water. Bread and water. That's not a palace, that's a prison, she thought.

The second day was no better, although it did cool off the bus when it rained. Gypsy stood in the driver chair in front, with her paws on the wheel thing, watching the rain. That's when she saw the humans come home in their truck. She meowed and meowed, but they never even looked toward the bus. They just went into the house. She didn't want to go back into the beds room because she'd been forced to commit an indiscretion in there, so she slept in the driver chair.

Then she heard Artie's voice. Was she dreaming? No! She could hear him faintly calling, "Gyps! Gyps! Where are you?" But it was dark outside. Night had come. When she finally saw Artie, he was at the door of the neighbor's house, and they were coming out to talk to him. She meowed with all her might as the humans all walked toward the bus. But they went around back to look in the boat. No, No, not in the boat, she was meowing. In the bus!

Next she could see them all heading for the barn. Somebody took a lantern from a peg and lit it as they all went inside. They were in there forever! No, No, she meowed frantically. Not in the barn, in the bus! And then they were coming back. She pressed her face against the window and waited.

Oh, no. They were going back to the house and just talking. Artie's head was down and he looked so sad! Oh, my Artie, she meowed. In the bus! And she saw him come, and saw him walk right past. She ran to the side window and jumped into it.

The clouds parted and the moonlight came through. Artie turned around and stared at the bus. He ran back to the house and brought the neighbor man to the bus, too. And oh my, oh my! The door was opening! ArtieArtieArtie, Gypsy screeched, and swooped past the neighbor to get to her boy. Oh, at last! Artie held her tight and he was crying. She hadn't seen him cry since he was so much shorter. Well, she'd purr for him, the way she used to, to make him stop. She purred all the way home.