| Subject: Another day in paradise... |
Author:
Steph
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Date Posted: 14:31:17 08/01/02 Thu
In reply to:
Robin
's message, "Lazy Days" on 13:51:30 07/29/02 Mon
In a small grey house nestled behind a row of bushes in a sprawling suburb, a cat sat on a bedside table and stared. Her eyes were a bright gold that glittered more than the dim light warranted, and her short, wiry-haired coat was white with splashes of black and gold. She sat very upright on the bedside table, between an alarm clock and a lamp, not moving a single muscle as she gazed with wide eyes at her boy.
Tangled in the bedclothes with limbs flung wide, Jeffery Gage Ryan was sound asleep. His light snores were muffled by the pillow over his head.
The hands on the clock turned slowly, and with a tick like any of the others they wound to six-o'clock. Seeming to sense the change, the cat hopped lithely to the bed and pawed earnestly at the pillow. From beneath it came a low groan, and Jeffery Gage Ryan rolled over. The cat snorted with what sounded like annoyance and jumped to the boy's shoulder. She miaowed loudly, lashing her tail and brushing her whiskers across the boy's face.
::Wake up.::
Jeff opened one eye a slit, looking up at the cat as she stared back at him. "Gwennie, gerroff me," he muttered, swatting gently at her. Avoiding his hand, the cat miaowed again and touched the boy's face with a paw.
"Fine, fine, I'm up." Jeff pulled the cat into his arms as he sat up, stroking her and smiling as she purred and nuzzled his hand delightedly.
Jeff bolted a quick breakfast in a silent house. His parents and younger siblings would still be asleep for another hour before they would rise to prepare for school or work, but Jeffery Gage Ryan and his cat Gwenneveire had made a habit of taking walks together in the early morning, to the outer fields of the city.
"Come on, Gwennie," Jeff called softly as he pulled a jacket on, and the cat hopped down from the table ((where her food bowl rested)) and trotted at the boy's heels as they exited the house. Jeff carefully latched behind them the gate of the fence that surrounded the house, and smiled at Gwenneth as she hurried to walk slightly ahead of him.
She's always so alert, Jeff thought to himself. It's like she's keeping watch for Cheysuli or something. She should know they can't get past the wall.
Jeff raised his eyes to look out over the rooftops and scattered trees. A mile away from where he and Gwenneth walked, surrounding the city and its suburbs, was a fifty-foot tall, twenty-foot wide wall. Every city that Jeff had ever visted or even heard of had a wall like this one, and twenty-four hour guard. The cities were the only completely safe places, places that "magical" creatures couldn't penetrate. All of his life Jeff had been told stories of the terrible things the Cheysuli and the Jellicles had worked upon the world, until the humans had risen up to subdue them. The Cheysuli, he had heard, were fierce warriors, each paired to an animal companion. This connection somehow produced intense magical properties, altering the once-humans until they were more beast than man. And the Jellicles... Jeff shuddered just to think of it. Creatures shaped like men, but with a cat's face and tail, ears and claws and teeth; incredibly powerful, fierce, and cruel. The world was filled with horrible things, he mused, but the humans had always endured.
A sharp miaow penetrated his thoughts. He looked over his shoulder to see Gwennie sitting in the road, staring at him pointedly. He glanced at his watch.
"Right as usual, Gwen," he said with a grin, stooping to scratch the cat's ears. "Let's go home so I'm not late again." Together they turned and walked back down the street.
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