Linda Nelson

>The rain poured from the sky. Kitty Sampson forgot all about being Ruby Angel and sniffed the air under the porch. Shinning in the dark before her were these big yellow green eyes. The eyes blinked at her. Kitty crouched close to the ground and readied herself for attack.

“Who there,” she called out to the eyes.

The eyes backed away further under the porch. The rain splashed underneath the porch, creating small puddles. Kitty shook her front paws. She just hated it when she got her feet wet. The dirt would become mud and the mud would then stick to the bottom of her feet. And mud, well that was just nasty tasting stuff. She could not stand the grit getting stuck between her teeth.

Again she called out to the eyes. “Who are you?” Kitty crept closer to the darkness. “Why don’t you come closer so I can see who you are?”

“Ne… deep…please don’t… Ne…deep…eat me,” came the reply.

Kitty crept even closer, following the porch siding wall toward the deeper, dark depths of the underside porch. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the low lighting. She could now make out a dark image sitting against the wall, deep in the shadows.

“Why would you think I would eat you?” Kitty asked the shadow. “I’m not even hungry.”

“Ne…deep…because…Ne…deep…you are bigger than me…Ne…deep…and…Ne…deep…I am just a frog.”

“Play maybe…I would play with you. But not, eat you. I am Ruby Angel, the super model heroine cat…I am the great protector of the poor-poor unfortunate ones.”

Kitty found a dry patch on the ground. She decided this was a good place to lounge while she waited for the rain storm to stop. Her people would be home soon. They would be looking for her and calling her to come eat her dinner. She licked her chops thinking about the dish of cat food they would present to her. Along with a small bowl of milk.

“Ne…deep…good to meet…Ne…deep…you.” The frog blinked. “Ne…deep…my name is…Ne…deep…Bernie…Ne…deep.”

“Nice to meet you Bernie.” Kitty giggled a small purr. “Are you a super hero too?”

“Super hero…Ne…deep…No…Ne…deep…What is a…Ne…deep…Super hero?”

Kitty licked her paws. “You don’t know what a super hero is? Well my boy told me; he is one of my people, he told me a super hero is someone who saves someone from something.”

“Ne…deep…you have a boy and you have people? Ne…deep…I have seen…Ne…deep…that boy before…Ne…deep…he tried to catch me…Ne…deep….but I jumped away from him…Ne…deep…as fast as I could….Ne…deep.”

“Oh he would not have hurt you. It is the girl you have to watch out for.” Kitty warned.

Just the other day Kitty watched the girl catch a grass hopper. She held it in her hands and shook them as hard as she could. Then she had spoken something to Kitty, something to do with check this out and then, the girl opened her hands right in front of Kitty’s face.

The poor grasshopper was so dizzy from the shaken, it did not know which direction it was going in and jumped out of the girls hands as soon as they were opened. Kitty immediately pounced on the poor thing and pretended to eat it. Meanwhile she hid the grasshopper underneath her body so the girl would not find it.

The trick seemed to work. Kitty’s apparent meal grossed the girl out, making her lose interest in torturing the bug. She ran into the house, yelling, “Mom, Kitty just ate a bug. A big bug. How gross.”

That was the day, Kitty Sampson decided to become Ruby Angel. She would set out to save the world from the girl. Then again, maybe she could save others too. There were other dangers besides the girl.

Kitty thought for a moment. “Bernie, would you like to be a super hero like me?” She flicked her tail to and fro. “It is a lot of fun.”

“Oh I don’t know,” said the frog. “How do I become a super hero?”

“Well, first you need a super hero name.” Kitty licked her paws. “Then you will need to decide what kind of super powers you have.”

Kitty and Bernie then began to talk about name. There was Bernie Hopper and Super Frog. At one point Kitty even suggested the name Fast Tongue Bernie, but he did not like any of them. She was about to give up when she thought of one last name. “How about Jade Brown.”

“Oh…I do like it. Jade Brown is a very catch name.” Bernie flicked out his tongue and snatched a lonely mosquito from the air in front of Kitty’s face. “And my super powers are that I can jump really high and I do have a lightning fast tongue.”

So, that is how Kitty Sampson and Bernie the Frog became friends. From that day on they became a super hero team, finding adventure all around them in the back yard. The underneath of the porch became their den or home base. A special secret hiding spot from the girl in the house.

Copyright © February 2011

On the prowl again, the great huntress climbs the tree in search of the largest bird she could find. Kitty Sampson, a wide-eyed smoke gray short haired cat made it to the branch of destination. The blue jay perched on the branch, watched her prowl slowly along. It shook its feathers.

“Who are you kidding? I see you there, Kitty.” The blue jay squawked.

Kitty stopped and looked up at the great bird. “Why do you have to ruin every thing. Couldn’t you see I was practicing?”

“Well you are going to need a lot more practice before you will be able to sneak up on anyone.” The jay shifted his weight to one leg and held out his wing, fluffing the feathers underneath it. “I saw you coming as soon as you left the house.”

Kitty stopped on the branch and sat down. A strong breeze shook the oak tree branch to and fro, causing the jay to take flight above the tree. “Where are you going?” she asked the jay.

“Can’t you see there is a storm a brewing,” he cawed. “I would get to shelter soon if I were you.”

Kitty looked to the sky. A line of dark clouds were heading in her direction, but they appeared to be way off in the distance. The wind ruffled her fur, but it felt nice on a hot day like today.

The jay was gone now, leaving Kitty all alone in the tree. She followed the branch some more, creeping to the end of the branch. A low rumble sounded off in the distance. The smell of rain was in the air.

Kitty huffed to herself, “I guess I better get down out of this tree before it is too late.”

A stronger breeze blew the branch to and fro and almost caused Kitty to lose her footing. The rain fell in tiny droplets. She took another step toward the tree trunk and looked down. The grass below looked like a shag carpet.

Another rain droplet fell. “Oh…oh what am I going to do?” Kitty fought off the feeling of panic.

The acid smell of the rain grew stronger while the storm came closer. A crack of thunder sounded over head. The wind blew the branch again. Kitty almost lost her grip. She had to do something fast.

“Think…think…what to do…” She closed her eyes for a moment and thought. “Ah ha… I know…I will become Ruby Angel. The super heroine who possesses the power of gravity control.”

Kitty looked down at the ground again. This was not going to be an easy task, it was a long way down.

Another crack of thunder and Kitty gripped tightly to the branch. The rain fell in a fine mist. She closed her eyes and began to imagine her self as Ruby Angel. The super cat who wore a light blue cape and yellow goggles, with a bright pink bow on the back of her neck. Ruby Angel, the super model heroine cat.

“Don’t let the bow and the cape get wet,” she told herself. “A branch, find another branch.”

There it was, below her off to her right. She crouched, wiggled her hinney in preparation for the jump. Kitty launched her self at the branch and almost missed her mark. She clawed and scrambled with her hind feet to find a foot hold with her sharp claws. With some struggle she pulled her self onto the branch. There were two more branches to go.

“This is hard work to be a super cat. Oh no…here comes the rain. My bow is going to get wet.”

She moved quicker, imagining her cape floating off her back while she jumped from one branch to the other. Kitty stopped on the last branch. She was now closer to the ground. But, it was still a long way down.

All it took was that last crack of thunder to set Kitty into motion. She launched her self toward the ground. Her heart was beating fast while she tried to fold her ears back. She hoped she could protect her bow with her ears from the rain.

Good thing cats always land on their feet. It would have been awful if she had gotten her bow and cape dirty. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she ran as fast as she could to the safety of the house porch. Taking cover underneath it.

A pair of eyes looked at her.

“Now what?” she wondered. “Another task for Ruby Angel to deal with?”