A brown tabby she-cat lay on a flat rock in her Twolegs' garden, soaking up the warm sun for all it was worth. She dozed happily, listening to the laughter of the Twoleg kits as they chased each other in the backyard next to her's.
"Hello, Princess." Smudge appeared from his garden, his black and white coat gleaming in the sunlight. She didn't notice the worried look in his amber eyes.
"Oh," Princess got up, stretching out on the rock. "Hello, Smudge. Want to come in? My Twolegs left some cream out. The good kind, too."
He shook his head. "Princess, I didn't come here to visit. It's about your brother."
The brown tabby lifted her head, blue eyes suddenly alert. "Which one?"
"Rusty," the black and white tom replied. "He went into the forest a couple of days ago and he still hasn't come back."
"Smudge-" Princess began, but her friend was too caught up in his worry.
"I tried to stop him," he wailed, pacing back and forth across the garden so many times it made Princess dizzy as she watched him. "But he wouldn't listen. Rusty thought all those tales about the cannibals weren't true."
"Smudge-," the brown tabby started again, but was intteruppted again.
"He was eaten!" Smudge yowled. "Rusty got eaten by the wild cats of the forest!" The black and white cat started to wail, "It's all my fault. It's all my fault! My best friend was eaten because of me!"
"SMUDGE!"
The black and white cat stopped, staring wide-eyed at the usually quiet Princess.
"Thank you," she meowed calmly. "Now, how do you know that Rusty was eaten?"
"Because the wild cats devour rabbits alive and torture and eat housecats for fun," he explained. "Tiny said so."
"Who?"
"The new kit that lives down the street," Smudge answered. "He tried to go into the forest and almost got ripped apart by a enormous cat with the longest, cruelest claws you've ever seen!"
"Smudge," Princess meowed flatly, "you're over-reacting. Tiny's younger than we are. Any cat looks big to him. Besides, I know my brother better than you do. Rusty can handle anything himself, even these supposed cannibals. If he hasn't come back yet, my bet is he joined them."
The black and white cat sighed, lowering his head in defeat. "Maybe you're right," he admitted sadly. "But I'm never going to see my best friend again."
Princess jumped down from her rock. She rubbed her friend's muzzle, purring softly. "It's okay," she assured gently. "You still have me."
Smudge's nose wrinkled. "But you're a she-cat," he protested. "What could a tomcat ever do with a she-cat that is funner than anything he could do with another tom."
Her blue eyes twinkled. "Lot's of things," she answered.
00000
"Uh-huh." Smudge cocked his head, listening in on his Twoleg's conversation as he chatted on what they called a telephone. "And she's pregnant?"
A long silence followed and Smudge's Twoleg nodded gravely at his cat. "I see. Don't worry, I'll make sure Smudge and Princess won't be able to do that ever again."
"What was that about?" Smudge asked, but of course his Twoleg was too stupid to answer.
The Twoleg hung up the phone, starting intently at his cat. "How does a visit to the vet sound, Smudge?"