Ember was a
natural leader from the day he was born. If he'd been a child, he would've been
in the corner often! Everything amazed him - the curtains, kitchen table, bees
(ouch!), ants, very high bookshelves and best of all - dresser drawers that
were filled with shredding material.His life took an unfortunate turn
when his human found out she was going to have a baby. She didn't understand
how warm and loving Ember would've been with the new child. All she saw was a
cat. If he was shredding pajamas now, who knew what he'd do to a baby. She
never tried to learn and he never was given the chance to prove that he
would've been no trouble at all.
She took the white kitten speckled
with black to the local animal control. She said goodbye and once in her car,
forgot him as thoughts of her new arrival filled her head.
She had left him at a horrible
place. He was put in a bare wire cage with a small litter container, kibble and
water. His rambunctious nature mixed those substances together quickly. He
wondered what happened to his warm place in the sun on his special chair as he now
sat in his own pee. It was a very difficult time. Hands would change his food
and water once a day. He tried to rub them, but, they came and went too fast.
One day those hands picked him up
and he was placed in a cardboard box. It wasn't a gentle transport. He was set
in a very stuffy truck with other cats meowing loudly. Nothing was going right,
although he was hoping that he was headed back home.
The truck stopped and he watched
through the few holes in the box as he was put into another metal cage. The
hand was rough; practically throwing him in.
When he woke the next day, he walked
to the front of the cage and cried out. What he saw had to be a nightmare. One
of his kind lay upright on a table with a metal contraption sitting on top of
her head. Her eyes weren't focused, but glazed and in pain. Her entire body was
fitted like a glove in a plastic blue container. She couldn't move.
Ember stared at the kitty for a long
time. She couldn't turn her head, but he heard her cry. She was unable to think
clearly, but she shared one thought, "Help."
The next day she was gone. Nothing
remained. The hand was reaching for him this time. He bit that hand hard.
"Ow, you -" He didn't wait to hear the rest. This was a small laboratory
and there was a boy smoking at the open doorway. Jumping out of the cage, he
ran through the open door as fast as he could, away from the smells of horror.
He ran and ran; finally wiggling into a storm drain. Although he had grown
quite a bit, his terror gave him the energy to get through. Loud men with nets chased
him. He walked through the sewers as carefully as he could towards a tiny glint
of light.
He thought of the little cat in the
lab and wished she was with him, so he could rub her beautiful orange fur and let
her know everything would be alright. He continued to walk toward the glint. The
rats were bigger than he was in the sewers. He gave them a wide berth. Finally,
he made it to the light. As he snuck closer, a man with a net announced his
presence. They found him!
Although he was exhausted, scared
and hungry, he turned back and lay down mid-way. He'd rather die than go back
to where he came from. As his eyes closed, he heard a voice, "Stay still,
little one." It was a gentle voice; one of his own kind. He opened his
tired blue eyes and saw another light. It surrounded him with warmth. He saw the
kitty that had been in the lab. She was running with others through the light -
whole and free. The voice continued, "You have survived what few survive
on Earth; you will come with me."
When Ember woke, a little tortoiseshell
cat was bathing him in kisses. He lay in flowers under the sun. She spoke once
before he fell asleep again. "Ember, you have seen the worst of mankind; now
you will see the best. You thought only of another when you were cold and
tired. You will be a great leader."
The gentle housecat who escaped
a fate worse than death, became the leader of the Abbottsford Cats. He guides
them through trouble and trials with his strong and knowing ways.
"Ember's Night" @2011 Kim Yvonne Cady
