text: It seemed to take forever to arrive at my new home. It had been a long, hot ride with no air conditioning in the cab of a pickup truck. Who makes cars without air conditioning, anyway? I slept as much as I could to keep my mind off the unbearable heat of the south. I did occasionally find myself daydreaming of my new home. I believe it had to be better than the place I had been, a large household of about 20 others living there. Don’t get me wrong: I had left behind some acquaintances and while I might miss them, I knew I was going to a better place. We finally drove up and I saw the most beautiful house I had ever seen. It must be a mansion. There was a yard with grass and trees. I could see and hear birds, squirrels, and all the sights and sounds of nature. I could only imagine what the inside must look like. As we walked in the door, my new roommate, Judy, pointed out the living room, bedroom, kitchen and such. This was incredible! As I stood there taking it all in, I was taken off guard by the worst sight imaginable: Running towards me at great speed was a huge, black dog! To add insult to injury, he started licking me. I AM NOT a dog type and to me nothing was worse than the slobbering spit of a dog. YUCK! What’s worse is that this was to be MY new home. I hadn’t heard anything in the terms about a dog. There was only one thing to do. I let Judy know that this simply would not do and we needed to remedy the situation post haste! She put the dog in the backyard, not exactly what I had in mind, but temporarily this got him out of the way. Now, it was time to discuss living quarters and the rights of each roommate. There was plenty of space and furniture so this should be easily decided. At least, that was what I thought. It became ultimately clear over the first week that I was being treated as a guest in my own house, and not a cherished guest. There was no spirit of “Be Our Guest” as heard many times over. It seems I was stepping on a few toes. If I sat somewhere, I was told that was not allowed. Rooms were shut off from me and I was not allowed to eat as I pleased. I was offered food, but it was not what she was having. Apparently, I was there just as a warm body and not as an equal owner of this property as I had been led to believe. Remember the dog? Oh, he was not sent away. He remained and seemed to receive better treatment than I. On top of that, Judy seemed determined that he and I needed to become friends. I tried to tell her more than once that this was not an option, but it fell on deaf ears. Obviously, this situation was not going to work out. That night, I decided it was time to go. It shouldn’t be too hard to find my way to the road. Maybe I could get a ride somewhere and find a new place. I waited until I was sure no one would hear me and snuck out the side door. I didn’t want to have to answer any questions. Naturally, I tried to be quiet, but it seemed as if every sound was amplified 10 times! In spite of that, I made it out undetected by Judy or the dog. I didn’t drive, so walking was my only option. I quickly made my way to the end of the street. Now what? Which way had we come in? I had no idea about the streets here. I would just have to use my best instincts at navigating. I went this way and that, hoping to find a familiar place or something the least bit recognizable. All the houses and buildings looked the same. Cars went rushing by. No one was stopping. I began to think it might be better if I went back to the house and would try again another day, but which way was the house? I was getting a little bit scared, but I knew I could do this, when all of a sudden, “Ba-boomb!” This was followed by a huge flash of light. “WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?!” Suddenly, rain was falling on me and almost blinding me. I ducked under the first place I could find to get away from the rain. I was hopelessly lost in a thunderstorm, and no one even knew I had left. I suddenly felt so alone, and I started to cry. I don’t know how long I stayed there, but at some point I fell asleep. I had dreams of people yelling at me, cars going by, loud noises and of being soaking wet. It was then that I heard a familiar voice crying, “Cocoa, where are you?” I was still trying to comprehend all of it when I felt the ever familiar feeling of a dog slobbering on me...THE dog from the house. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t care for dogs licking me, but I decided this time I could handle it, since he is the one who found me! You see, I am a cat and we ...well...we just do things differently than dogs; however, I must say this is one time I was glad to be slobbered on and to hear my name being called. I was going home. All those demands I wanted to make no longer mattered, (well, maybe a little.) As it turns out, Judy was so glad to see me, too, and we have kind of come to a mutual understanding. I am now allowed on the couch and sometimes in her bedroom. She even has opened some of the doors for me. When we got home, I got a huge can of yummy tuna. I guess we both were upset at the possibility of me being lost. Oh, and the dog, well I guess we came to an understanding as well. We tolerate each other, and sometimes I will even snuggle up next to him when I am really tired, but I have made it clear...no dog slobber...well, maybe a little now and again won’t hurt.