The Black Kitten

By BlackJack

One fine Halloween there was a tiny black kitten who had lost his way in the world. He had strayed too far from home chasing a moth, and suddenly found himself lost and having no idea of where home was. It was getting dark, and he was getting scared. He had never been away from his mother, and didn't know what to do.

As the full moon appeared on the horizon, he began to see great numbers of strange spirits and hobgoblins walking about, and all shouting "trick or treat". Now what in the world was happening, he thought. Never had his mother mentioned anything about this! He saw large spirits and tiny ones, some being carried by humans who were dressed as normal humans did. This was all terribly confusing to the black kitten.

He was getting hungry and thirsty too, and began to cry softly. He was frightened of all these spirits and strange creatures that were prowling the night. He began to pad slowly around the neighborhood, hoping to find something to eat. But there was nothing that smelled of food, only a sweet sugary smell from things that had dropped out of the strange creatures bags. What was he to do?

He saw another cat, but it was a huge tomcat, on the hunt for lady cats, and the little black kitten ran into the bushes, afraid of the big tom. There seemed to be few cats out, they must have known this was a bad night to prowl with all the spirits out and about.

The wind began to blow, and it looked like a storm was coming up, and he watched the clouds scudding over the moon, making the scene very eerie indeed. He did find a bit of water in a puddle and drank some of the brackish water, wishing for a clean bowl and fresh water. The moon was almost entirely obscured now, and he began to shake with fear. Still the creatures prowled, with the constant "trick or treat" ringing in his ears. Where could he find a safe spot? Weren't there any friendly cats out tonight?

As he padded along, searching in vain for a sheltering spot, he met up with another cat. This was another tomcat, a big white one with black spots, but he didn't look as fearsome as the other tom. The black kitten mewed softly to the big cat, and cried out for help. Amazingly, the big tom came over to see what was wrong, and mewed in a gentle voice to come along with him. The black kitten was in such a state, that he followed the tomcat. They snuck along in the bushes, avoiding the strange creatures.

Soon they came to a house, and the kitten could smell other cats in the house. What had he gotten himself into? The white and black tomcat told him this was a safe house, that the lady there always fed stray cats, and the tom walked boldly up to the door and meowed. The door opened and a human came out, carrying a bag of cat food, and a bowl of water. These were placed in a safe area, away from the constant hubbub of creatures shouting trick or treat.

The black kitten dove into the food with gusto, drank some water, and promptly fell asleep on the blanket that was nearby. As he slept, the tomcat guarded him, and mewed that morning would be here soon, and they would find his home.

Sure enough, morning did come, and all the strange creatures were gone, all but the big tomcat. The tomcat led the black kitten home, where his mother had been frantically searching for him. All was well again with the little black kitten, who had survived his first Halloween and met a special kitty who showed the true meaning of friendship.