The lights were flipped on, awakening me from an otherwise peaceful sleep.
"All right you flea bitten mutts," the owner practically growled at all of us as one by one he slipped food and water into our cages "try and look cute so I can get your furry poo-covered butts out of here." When he finished insulting us he took his position behind the register as he did everyday. Next he picked up a TV and began staring at other humans embarrassing themselves for their enjoyment.
I brought myself to my feet and stretched out as far as I could in my small cage. I walked a few steps forward to the front of my prison. Glancing down at the small bowl full of water, I saw myself. Pure white. As far as humans go, one color does not convince humans to take us away from our jail. I pawed at the water to make the 'unadoptable' reflection go away but it just came back.
"Maybe today will be the day, M." I knew who was talking, my 'neighbor' Nicky. Always the optimist. From what I've seen when the humans take him out to study him, he's a black tabby with three white strips across his back. "I mean everybody goes sometimes, right?" Oh, if only he knew cats say the same thing about death.
"Thanks," I muttered back. Nicky's just a newbie. Only 6 months old. I just hit one whole year and not once as anyone wanted to study me. Most of my life, I've been behind bars. I can't even remember my parents, I was taken away from them as soon as I stopped nursing from Mom.
"You know? I've always wondered where the word 'thanks' came from. It's one of those word that seem so..." I didn't need to listen anymore. That was Tenchi, the pure Siamese kitten. Humans think Siamese are talkative but they can't understand what they're saying. When you do, you wish you couldn't.
The 'Pohs Tep" as the humans call it fell silent as the first humans walked through the door, inevitably ringing the bell tied to the top. I licked my paw and smoothed down the bed head fur on my hair. I sat upright and tried to look nice.
The humans were in a pack of three, two dominate adults and a single offspring. The young started running around the prison talking rather quickly. Too fast for me to understand.
"Mommy," I picked up from the intelligible gibberish the youth spilled forth. "I want that one and that one and that one." The male child pointed to a few random fellow inmates. "Oooh," the offspring awed "I want that one." the child pointed at me.
"Told ya." Nicky whispered to me in a tone that the humans didn't seem to hear. The owner broke free of the idiot box and walked over to my cage, fumbling with his keys. With a click, the cage open and a pair of greasy arms grabbed me, dragging me out.
Out of the hairy arm and into a death squeeze courteous to the small boy who managed to knock the breath out of me in moments. I had seen human children before and only the most patient of animals make it past the trials the humans gave and were granted freedom. Lord knows I failed. As much as I wanted freedom, I couldn't stand this child.
I hissed loudly and squirmed free. I ran to the temporary safety behind some large bags that smelled of food. I peeked out from my hiding spot to see the human child wailing loudly and sobbing. The dominate grownups were comforting their offspring and yelling at the owner names I never heard before. It must've been a secret because the dominate female covered the ears of the smaller human while the dominate male continued to yell to well-kept secret for several minutes.
When the pack moved on, I had started to take a nap. The owner scared me as he grabbed me by my scruff and threw me, yes, literally threw me, back in my cell. "You'll never get out of my hair if you keep freaking out at every customer. Stupid cat." The balding fat male went back to watching the talking box. I went to work fixing my messed up fur, now going every which way thanks to the insufferable little, how those humans say it, brat?
Time past as other humans walked in and out, some just to gawk at our less-then-preferable situation, other to release other luckier animals. As I feared, eventually my friend, Nicky, with his easygoing personality and attention grabbing fur patterns, was adopted.
I knew it would happen eventually but still I didn't want to believe that my only friend would leave. The male finished signing the release papers as the female cuddled my friend. Nicky gave me a nervous smile. "Sorry." he whispered. The two humans carried the only friend I'll probably ever have out the door. All I could do from inside my cage was wave good bye.
"Aw, don't worry about him. Humans seem to like our kind. Not like liking them as a snack or anything but then again I don't know really I..."
"Tenchi!" I yelled "shut up for once in your life!" Blasted Siamese.
Days past and apparently my escapade with the young human seemed to have leaked to the rest of the herd because no human that walked in the prison ever seemed to notice me at all. At least not until he came.