Snibbets the Cat

The air was heavy and dark, the smell of cat food filled the basement. “Where's your cat Diane?”, Teddy yelled up the stairs, where Diane was prepping dinner. Diane walked over to the basement doorway, her silhouette, lit up from behind from the bright kitchen lights stated confidently, “Snibbets will come when you pour the food into the bowl. He's probably in the laundry pile somewhere.” She motioned toward four large bags of cat food, half folded over at the top. “Try that one with the yellow label.”

Teddy grabbed the yellow bag, unrolling the top and looked toward the east wall of the basement....his eyes scanned what looked to be the wreckage of a long forgotten flannel war. He wondered when Diane was going to fold and press the laundry, and more so contemplated her burning the clothes in a giant bonfire in her yard. He loved the relief of a clean home, and Diane's basement was long overdue for a deep and thorough purge. He poured the chunky dry cat food into a red plastic bowl on the floor.

Still no sign of the cat. This seemed unusual to Teddy and he wondered if the cat was ill.

“Diane, should I just leave the food in the bowl and come upstairs? Snibbets isn't coming.” Diane suggested coming upstairs and joining her in the kitchen.

Suddenly Teddy remembered he had buried a black Twizzler in his jeans pocket, which Diane had offered to him on the car ride to her house earlier that evening. He was puzzled as to why he had accepted it from her, as he hated black licorice. As he pulled the sticky Twizzler from his pocket, he could hear something clinking above his head. He looked up to the large metal pipe above him, and noticed Snibbets looking down at him with eyes aglow - vivid with reflection as he crept along with the calculated moves of a panther, the metal tag around his neck dragging along the pipe. Snibbets then let out a horrific cry and lost balance, falling haphazardly onto Teddy's shoulders and digging his claws in deep. Teddy lifted the Twizzler to Snibbets mouth hurriedly and the cat cried out again as if his entire life depended on consuming the twisted licorice.

The claws lifted out of Teddy's skin as Snibbets dove to the floor with the candy hanging from his mouth. He shot Teddy a look of utter disgust and jumped up the staircase in a frenzy.

“Wow, ouch!” Teddy exclaimed out loud. He climbed the stairs and entered Diane's kitchen. “Your cat... your cat. Has he lost his mind?” Teddy rubbed his shoulders delicately as to ease the sharp pain. “He must love licorice!”

Diane broke out in a big smile, “Oh Snibbets loves licorice!” She laughed and inquired about the event, “What happened down there?”

Teddy explained, “He was on the pipe above me and I caught him glaring at a Twizzler I was holding. I thought he was going to jump to the floor so I would give him a piece … I had no idea he would fall for it!”