He was waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting, and anticipating. He sat in that same tree all day, every day, for weeks, months, years on end. To what end? To the end that would deliver him his beloved little girl. How he loved that little girl.

She had visited once before. She'd been even littler then and had absolutely hated him. She called him names-you mad cat!-and wouldn't stop until he got bored and left. But when he did leave she'd sit down and sob-sob-sob and wouldn't stop until he came back and said no, he wasn't mad, he was just playing, don't cry? It was all very amusing. Especially because it would start all over again right away.

But the little girl who had the nicest crying voice he'd heard in a long time couldn't stay forever. She'd only come to crash a tea party and play croquet like all the others but unlike all the others she was invited to the second party and managed to escape back home with her head and sanity fully intact. He had helped her get home-showed her the way after she got lost and even gave her some advice that would be very good to follow if she ever figured it out. And so she left.

But she'd be back. He knew it. Because she promised.

So he sat in the same tree he'd been lounging in when she happened to pass by the first time and waited. He was greatly looking forward to her arrival. In fact, he thought that if she came soon enough he might come right out and say what he was thinking for once, which was this: Are you happy to be back? Of course, it doesn't matter how happily you act if you're not happy so don't lie now. I, for one am quite happy which should be enough of a happy reason for you to be happy. So say yes.

He waited and waited. He waited until Wonderland fell apart around him and the very tree he perched in could only be called a skeleton of its former self. He missed so many meals that he became as emaciated as a skeleton and his once beautiful silk coat of fur for the rich was left in tatters. But he wouldn't stop because that would mean giving up which was practically the same as losing and he hated to lose in the games he played. He would wait until the end. It was too bad that the end came so soon.

And it didn't bring his favorite little girl with it.

Or, if it did he didn't recognize her.

He was just a heart beating in anticipation without a cat to inhabit by that time so it wasn't that surprising though.