The Lost Kitten

Skimbleshanks swiveled his ears lazily as he lay in the small strip of sun that managed to break through the thick canopy of trees above. It was strange to him, not having the constant grinding of the train's wheels against the track, but it couldn't be helped at the moment. A recent rockslide had blocked the tracks and the crew was busily working to clear it. The train had been sitting silently in the forest for almost two hours, only the sound of picks and shovels coming from the front gave any indication that there was life beyond him and Penny.

As luck would have it, the train had stopped only a short distance from a small lake with plenty of fish in it. Well, it had few less fish since Penny had decided to try and catch enough to feed the crew.

"They deserve some fresh fish after working so hard out here."

Skimble secretly thought she was just excited to try out the new fishing rod she had gotten for her 16th birthday last week. He remembered one of the "extreme sports" she had listed in her adventure journal was about men catching fish bigger than their own boats. But that was out in the ocean, not a tiny little lake. 'I guess she'll need to practice before trying to hook a really big one.'

He wondered if any cat had ever caught a fish that big before. He had managed to scoop out one big enough for him to snack on; but his paws got wet, scales stuck to his claws, and it flopped around after he threw it on the shore and smacked him a couple of times with its tail. After that he had decided to let Penny do the fishing.

Penny sighed and kicked her legs through the water. "I guess the fish are done biting. I don't think we got enough for everyone though."

"Did you get enough for me at least?" he asked as he eyed the bucket of fish cooling in the water. "That little minnow I caught didn't fill me up like I'd hoped."

She threw her arms above her head and fell back to the ground. "There were a lot of rocks on the track. There's probably enough time for us to get a little bit of sleep." She glanced over at Skimble, "what do you think? Should we head back or nap here?"

His reply came as a snore.

Chuckling to herself, she curled up next to him and closed her eyes. Sleep evaded Penny, but the foreign sounds of the forest seemed to grow louder as she lay perfectly still and perfectly quiet. Being surrounded by train noises her entire life, she relished this quiet time with an appreciation lost on most people.

Her guessing game about what animal was making what sound came to an abrupt halt when she heard a surprisingly familiar sound.

"mew"

A cat? She looked over at Skimble, he was still sleeping.

"mew"

A kitten. Penny got up as quietly as she could and tried to locate the source of the mewling. After crawling around for a few minutes, she finally saw a little brown nose peaking out from under a bush. She slowly crawled towards it and kept her voice quiet, "Hi there little one."

The nose quickly disappeared into the bush. She reached her hand out and received a swipe from a very small paw. The cat's claws were out, but the swipe was so weak that they didn't even break the skin. A feeble hiss came from the bush when she reached in and felt around. She felt teeth before she felt fur, but the bite was even weaker than the claw swipe and she pulled the kitten out anyway.

It struggled and twisted in her grasp, but it just didn't have the energy to break free. Now that she could see it clearly; Penny saw that it was scrawnier than any animal she had ever seen. After making sure there were no other cats hiding in the bush, she carried it back to the lake and grabbed a clothe from her supplies.

"Calm down. We'll get you cleaned up then find something for you to eat. I don't think Skimble will mind sharing some fish." She glanced down at Skimble again. Still asleep.

Ignoring the small cat's cries and struggles, she dipped the clothe in the lake water and rubbed her clean. Several layers of dirt later, she discovered the nose was white instead of brown. She now held a small, angry, wet, starving, white cat.

Penny used her toes to nudge Skimble awake, receiving a groan of protest from him. "Great, now I have two cats mad at me." She nudged him more, "Come on Skimble move! You've slept in the sun long enough and this cat needs that warm spot more."

Skimble widened his eyes in shock as he was pushed into the shade. They narrowed again as Penny set the new cat in the patch of sun.

The new cat was so hungry, tired and scared; that she couldn't even try to run away. She just stared up at Skimble silently.

Watching her shiver with fear and cold made Skimble's anger disappear and his features soften. 'Ok, I guess she did need it more than me.' He had a soft spot for kits anyway. He walked over and tried to lick the cat behind her ear in a sign of peace. A pathetically frail swipe across his nose was the other cat's reaction. He was more upset than anything about how weak the swipe was. He lifted his paw and cuffed the cat across the ear. It was gentle, but the other cat was so frail it sent her to the ground. "None of that now lass! You're obviously starving and we're trying to help ya. Now sit still and let me dry you off."

The small cat curled into herself as best she could and let Skimble lick her fur the wrong way to dry it. "My name's Skimbleshanks by the way, call me Skimble. The one bringing you food is my girl Penny. I see you trying to swipe at her I'll cuff you so hard those blue eyes will spin!"

"Here you go kitty" Penny placed one of the fish she had caught in front of the, now terrified, cat.

The look of fear in her eyes was very clear, but the rumble in her stomach was even louder. She dove right for the fish and devoured every last edible morsal. After the last bite, she saw Penny

setting down a bowl of cool lake water. She did the same thing to the water she had done with the fish. With the fish curbing her hunger, the water soothing her throat and the sun was warming her fur, she calmed down and looked up at the two strangers before her.

Skimble walked up to her again and touched noses. "You got a slight fever. You come with us and we'll get that fixed. What's your name kitten?"

A feeble and unused voice forced out, "…my…name…", before she collapsed on the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

"Oh no! Poor kitty!" Penny gasped as she picked up the limp form and checked that she was still breathing. "Hm, she seems ok enough. I guess she was just exhausted." They quickly packed up their fishing gear and carried everything back to the train.

They kept the new kitten in their cabin and tended to her constantly. It was several days before she woke up to the train's whistle as it pulled into a station.

Skimble was busy licking water from his bowl when he heard a stirring in the bed they had made for the cat. "Awake at last?" He asked as he pranced over and peaked into the blanket. A tiny voice whispered out to him.

"I don't have one."

Skimble stuck his nose further into the blanket. "I beg your pardon?"

"You asked my name. I don't have one." Her voice shook as she burrowed even deeper into the blanket. Frightened by this strange place and even stranger cat.

Skimble, oblivious to the kitten's discomfort, grabbed the blanket with his teeth and pulled it from the bed; exposing her hunched over in the corner. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. Penny's decided to call you Victoria."

"Vic-tor-ia?" her voice cracked as she tried out the new name.

Skimble wrapped his tail around her neck and guided her to his water bowl. "Drink up lass. There's plenty where that came from." She didn't have to be told twice. She dove in and began gulping down the water at an incredible rate. "Woah lass! There is plenty more but you'll make yourself sick at that rate."

She flattened her ears in shame and looked up at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just so hungry."

He tilted his ears "then you need food, not water."

"I can never find enough food. Water at least fills my tummy."

The corners of his muzzle lifted in a smile as he lay his tail across her shoulders. "On this train you'll never go hungry. Just follow me."

He preceded to give Victoria the grand tour of his beloved home. He took her all the way from the coal bin (being careful not to smudge her pretty white coat), all the way to the caboose at the far end (he had to pull her back by the scruff when she got a little close to the edge), and to dining car in between (where she practically inhaled the food the cook gave them).

Even when he was moving a little slow and kept getting stopped by passengers or to hunt a wayward mouse, the trip would take him two hours at the absolute most. This trip took the two of them all day. Poor Victoria kept running away from the passengers and hiding in any nook or cranny she could find. When he would finally coax her out, she would freeze in terror at any hand that would reach out to give her a friendly pet. And when they had to cross the gap to get to another train car…well…that took a lot convincing, each and every time.

At the end of the day poor Victoria collapsed into her little bed, exhausted beyond belief. She was still scared half to death at the movement she felt under her paws and the scenery rushing by. There were so many giant creatures walking around on two legs that she felt she would be crushed at any time. She even heard strange barking coming from one of the crates in the car with all the giants' belongings. Lug-age, Skimble had called it.

"At least Skimble's nice." She muttered to herself as she watched him groom his tail across the room. She had almost worked up the courage to go over and ask if they could groom together, even though she was scared her instincts told her friends should groom each other, the door opened and another giant walked in. She burrowed back into her blanket, but not before a delicious smell filled the tiny room.

Skimble ran up to the giant. "Penny! I missed you all day! Is that dinner?"

"Penny?" Victoria had a fuzzy memory of that name from the forest. This must be the girl Skimble said brought her food. She was nice too.

"Skimble! You're gonna make me drop the food." She skillfully dodged her prancing cat and set two bowls of steaming hot chicken soup on the floor. Slowly making her way to Victoria's bed, "Are you hungry Victoria?" She kept her voice low. "There's nothing to be scared of. See," she gestured to Skimble slurping up his soup, "Skimble's not afraid. If you eat this you can grow big and beautiful like him."

Penny's voice was soft and the smell of the food was strong. Hunger finally won out and Victoria cautiously made her way to the bowl. The warm liquid seemed to spread through her entire body and revive her in a way nothing else ever had. She still flinched when Penny reached out and began petting her, but she was so hungry she didn't run away like she would have this morning. 'Her hands sure are soft. I guess she really won't hurt me.'

The hours passed peacefully as Victoria let Penny pet her more and more. And yes, Skimble did invite her to groom with him; though she was so small he had to crouch down for her to reach his head. Feeling full, clean, and safe; Victoria climbed into her bed and watched as Skimble jumped up next to Penny. Suddenly the room felt empty, having no one else down on the floor with her. She waited a short while, waiting for them to fall asleep, before she climbed out of her bed and made her way across the floor.

Penny and Skimble were so high up, Victoria didn't think she'd ever make it. She jumped few times only to fall back to the floor. Her legs were still weak from starving and tired from walking the length of the train, plus she was very small. Ears and tail drooping, she turned back to her bed to sleep alone. Until, that is, Penny reached hand over the edge and scooped Victoria up.

Pulling Victoria close she kissed the top of her head and whispered "Skimble used to have trouble jumping up here too. You'll get the hang of it."

"You're never going to let me forget that are you?" he mumbled back.

Victoria made her way to Skimble and pressed her back against his warm fur. "Um. Mr. Skimbleshanks?"

"Just Skimble will do lass." His voice was drowsy, but there was a chuckle in it.

"Well…I guess…you can call me Victoria."

"Fair enough Victoria. Is there something you need?"

"This place is scary, but I like the two of you. And I don't have a family. How long can I stay here?"

He rolled over and wrapped himself around her small body, pulling her close. "However long you want." Her next question was so quiet Skimble almost didn't hear it.

"Can I call you papa?"

He licked the tip of her ear. "Only if I can call you kitten."

"Goodnight papa"

"Goodnight kitten"