Cat Spikes

When greed and possession grow and grow you will become blind to the truth. The truth that we were all birthed into the same little world and nothing in it can ever truly belong to anybody.

On a winding neighbourhood lane there are fourty two houses with neat front lawns, some are decorated with pretty plants in pots and some have tree's that grow golden fruit. Each house is more or less the same, until you reach the very last house, number 42. It's surrounded by a fence clumsily decorated with cat spikes - not an inch of the top of the fence is uncovered. Inside the house lives an evil villain with very little skills or power. He sits in his garden all afternoon in his sweaty white vest and white shorts which are too tight, he sniffs and wipes his nose on the back of his hand, leaning back into his chair and resting his meaty legs on the garden table.
He waits for the sound of a bell on a cat's collar, or a rustle in the tree's, and any sound or sight of an intruding cat will arouse excitement in the evil villain.
"The last cat who tried to break into my garden," he spat,
"and used my possessions as a toilet had to have her little paws chopped off!" The evil villain spat little bits of chewy meat over his bare legs as he grunted with his mouth open.
The cat who was now missing two paws happened to be exploring the neighbourhood one week ago, when it caught sight of a hummingbird.
"Can't catch me!" Chirped the bird.
The cat chased the bird up an apple tree and as it reached closer the bird flew away, it tried to jump quickly onto the fence of number fourty two and it's poor little paws had landed fiercely onto the spikes. The villain had been watching the scene happily from his garden table, he only scowled and threw a piece of meat at the crying cat who thankfully made it home.
"This is all mine you fool!" He cried.
"I pay for it, therefore it's mine. All mine."
On a particularly sunny day, the villain went out for a walk to the neighbourhood shop. On his way back down the winding lane, he was followed by a black cat with twinkling green eyes. As he reached his house at the very end, he turned and spat at it, it did not flinch, it only stopped and sat still outside the fence as the villain slammed the fence door shut behind him.
When he awoke the following day, the evil villain was blind, he panicked and shouted but for who - he did know, there is no other life that shares this man's house, he had sworn against sharing with anyone he believed hadn't worked as hard as he and earned their possessions through green paper and coins.
As he cries for someone to help, the black cat watches through the window. It's laying on the garden table with bleeding paws, sat next to it is a Witch with green eyes that twinkle just like the cats. She picks it up and kisses it's paws, which melt away the pain.
"When greed takes over a person's compassion, they begin to lose their sight." Said the witch.
"But if you truly lost your sight then these material things lose their value, and all that matters is love."
The black cats eyes twinkled in agreement and they flew away into the sky on a broomstick, on their way to change the sight of another soul blinded by greed.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is definitely a parable for our current times, when so many people are more concerned about making & spending money, than caring for other living things. I really enjoy a fantastical story like this, using animals as characters, & showing immense imagination & imagery. Your storytelling is way above average, but I did get a tiny bump when I read about the cat missing two paws, but then after chasing the hummingbird, its paws landed on the spikes, after which the villain threw a piece of meat at the cat. This sequence just didn't flow as well as the rest. Even with a fantastical story, I prefer a certain amount of logical sense to prevail (don't really think the cat would be getting around so well with only two paws, plus I don't really think the villain would feed the cat, after the way you've painted the situation there). Also, there are a few typos/spelling/grammar issues. But with your delightful imagination & storytelling ability, you will soon be a star if you practice & clean up these little glitches.

[Sophie]

Thank you so much! The bit when the cat chases the hummingbird wasn't clear enough - "the cat who is now missing two paws happened to be exploring the neighbourhood one week ago" is suppose to explain how the cat had hurt his paws in the first place. This seems to happen with a lot of my writing.
Thank you again for such kind words and advice! Also working on the grammar and spelling. X

[EverythingCoconut]

Chuckled at several parts, love the way you've taken a simple subject matter and made it special and unique. The ending to the story is beautiful as well, and so true