Stockholm Syndrome -A Short Story By Sandra Bunting
Kitkat was born exactly six months before Natalie. Both mothers were pregnant at the same time but Kitkat was faster in being made. One day, as Natalie’s mother watched television over her stomach that seemed to be expanding in front of her eyes, the mother cat jumped up in her lap and proceeded to have eight kittens of various hues.
“Different fathers!” Aunt Polly whispered confidentially.
The runt of the litter, Kitkat, was the only one not to open her eyes. She remained small while the others grew. Natalie’s mother, maternal instinct setting in, bathed her eyes in chamomile tea and after awhile, they opened.
As cats could sometimes be bad for pregnant mothers, the mother cat and her litter were moved out to the shed. That was no discomfort. They had a snug box and cosy blankets. However, someone left the door of the shed slightly open one night.
Natalie’s mother, not sleeping much anyway at that time heard the mother cat screech. Thinking it was the father cat lurking about, she went downstairs and out into the shed as fast as her now awkward body would go. It was not another cat; it was a fox. The mother cat was putting up a brave show of defending her kittens.
Natalie’s mother didn’t have time to be frightened. By the time she realised what was happening the fox ran off. All of the kittens were safe and although the mother was exhausted, she was unharmed.
As the kittens grew, a notice was put round the neighbourhood looking for homes. In a short time, they were all placed –they were adorable- and delivered one by one with a bowl, their favourite food and a toy to start them off. However, at the last moment, the woman that was to take Kitkat backed out and the cat stayed on to welcome Natalie into the world.
“The head on that cat is no bigger than a walnut,” Aunt Polly commented when she came over to see if she could do anything to help her niece.
Although a half-hearted attempt was made to place the kitten in a new home, Natalie’s mother felt attached to it, seeing that it was the runt, and that she had spent so much time bathing it’s eyes. It was growing up black and sleek like its mother. But it was quiet. It didn’t meow and Natalie’s mother wondered if it was born with more defects that just rummy eyes.
Natalie came into the world with a yawn and pursing lips. After four days in hospital, the new baby was brought home and placed in the newly decorated cot. Kitkat jumped up on the chair beside it and peered inside. Looking at Natalie, she let out a huge meow, her first.
Kitkat wes almost full grown by the time Natalie crawled for the first time. Living bacj in the house again with her mother, Kitkat never wandered far from Natalie. She liked to run aroiund the baby who crawled zigzagedly on the floor. Kitkat would create her own obstacle course. The cat would sit beside Natalie and kneed the sofa. She would jump into the cot and curl up at the top of Natalie’s head.
“A hat,” Natalie’s mother would say, laughing.
“Absorbing Natalie’s dreams,” her father said.
“Oh my God,” said Aunt Polly. “The baby will be smothered.”
Her mother then tried to keep the cat out of the baby’s room but she always sneaked in.
“How can you tell the cat’s a girl?” asked Natalie’s father.
“I can just tell. Her mother picked up the small black cat and pet its smooth hair.
“I guess you are right. All girls! I’ll be playing football on my own.”
Kitkat remained small. Still the runt of the litter.
That spring Natalie went with her mother through fields of daffodils and bluebells to watch the cows chew endlessly as they stared into space. The braying of o donkey could be heard over the wall. It was hard to keep dry feet. Kitkat and her mother went with them on their walks along country roads and across fields, in fact knowing more of the outdoors that they did.
Although still small, Kitkat was filling out. She had the most beautiful green eyes with unusually big round pupils. They shone like emeralds against a black sky. Later the vet said her eyes were so beautiful because her lenses had dropped.
In May the family moved to a small house in the centre of town. Gone were the fields, the cows, the donkey. The new house didn’t even have a back garden Cars whizzed by on streets on two sides of the house; another house was joined on another side, leaving only the back alley to explore. However, dogs tended to roam there. Kitkat usually stayed perched on the back wall. Her mother was a bit more adventurous.
One night the mother cat did not come home. Natalie’s mother, walking to the shop one sunny morning in June, discovered the body of a cat by the side of the road. Stiff with an expression of horror frozen on to its face, the cat could not be positively identified but inside the mother knew it was her cat she was looking at. However, she couldn’t approach it and recoiled, frightened of what she saw and how she felt. Walking quickly away, she headed for home without getting the newspaper. The animal welfare said they would collect the body for disposal.
Natalie had a large room facing the street. In the afternoon when it was sunny, Kitkat would sit on the window sill in a susbeam. At night, she would curlo up at Natalie’s head. Everything done to stop her from spending the night in the room failed.l
Kitty school
Put her in a closet
Made her sit on a window
Made her dance
Dressed her in clothes
Married her to a teddy
Glaucoma
Sits outside her door
Jumps up and stays with her
“Different fathers!” Aunt Polly whispered confidentially.
The runt of the litter, Kitkat, was the only one not to open her eyes. She remained small while the others grew. Natalie’s mother, maternal instinct setting in, bathed her eyes in chamomile tea and after awhile, they opened.
As cats could sometimes be bad for pregnant mothers, the mother cat and her litter were moved out to the shed. That was no discomfort. They had a snug box and cosy blankets. However, someone left the door of the shed slightly open one night.
Natalie’s mother, not sleeping much anyway at that time heard the mother cat screech. Thinking it was the father cat lurking about, she went downstairs and out into the shed as fast as her now awkward body would go. It was not another cat; it was a fox. The mother cat was putting up a brave show of defending her kittens.
Natalie’s mother didn’t have time to be frightened. By the time she realised what was happening the fox ran off. All of the kittens were safe and although the mother was exhausted, she was unharmed.
As the kittens grew, a notice was put round the neighbourhood looking for homes. In a short time, they were all placed –they were adorable- and delivered one by one with a bowl, their favourite food and a toy to start them off. However, at the last moment, the woman that was to take Kitkat backed out and the cat stayed on to welcome Natalie into the world.
“The head on that cat is no bigger than a walnut,” Aunt Polly commented when she came over to see if she could do anything to help her niece.
Although a half-hearted attempt was made to place the kitten in a new home, Natalie’s mother felt attached to it, seeing that it was the runt, and that she had spent so much time bathing it’s eyes. It was growing up black and sleek like its mother. But it was quiet. It didn’t meow and Natalie’s mother wondered if it was born with more defects that just rummy eyes.
Natalie came into the world with a yawn and pursing lips. After four days in hospital, the new baby was brought home and placed in the newly decorated cot. Kitkat jumped up on the chair beside it and peered inside. Looking at Natalie, she let out a huge meow, her first.
Kitkat wes almost full grown by the time Natalie crawled for the first time. Living bacj in the house again with her mother, Kitkat never wandered far from Natalie. She liked to run aroiund the baby who crawled zigzagedly on the floor. Kitkat would create her own obstacle course. The cat would sit beside Natalie and kneed the sofa. She would jump into the cot and curl up at the top of Natalie’s head.
“A hat,” Natalie’s mother would say, laughing.
“Absorbing Natalie’s dreams,” her father said.
“Oh my God,” said Aunt Polly. “The baby will be smothered.”
Her mother then tried to keep the cat out of the baby’s room but she always sneaked in.
“How can you tell the cat’s a girl?” asked Natalie’s father.
“I can just tell. Her mother picked up the small black cat and pet its smooth hair.
“I guess you are right. All girls! I’ll be playing football on my own.”
Kitkat remained small. Still the runt of the litter.
That spring Natalie went with her mother through fields of daffodils and bluebells to watch the cows chew endlessly as they stared into space. The braying of o donkey could be heard over the wall. It was hard to keep dry feet. Kitkat and her mother went with them on their walks along country roads and across fields, in fact knowing more of the outdoors that they did.
Although still small, Kitkat was filling out. She had the most beautiful green eyes with unusually big round pupils. They shone like emeralds against a black sky. Later the vet said her eyes were so beautiful because her lenses had dropped.
In May the family moved to a small house in the centre of town. Gone were the fields, the cows, the donkey. The new house didn’t even have a back garden Cars whizzed by on streets on two sides of the house; another house was joined on another side, leaving only the back alley to explore. However, dogs tended to roam there. Kitkat usually stayed perched on the back wall. Her mother was a bit more adventurous.
One night the mother cat did not come home. Natalie’s mother, walking to the shop one sunny morning in June, discovered the body of a cat by the side of the road. Stiff with an expression of horror frozen on to its face, the cat could not be positively identified but inside the mother knew it was her cat she was looking at. However, she couldn’t approach it and recoiled, frightened of what she saw and how she felt. Walking quickly away, she headed for home without getting the newspaper. The animal welfare said they would collect the body for disposal.
Natalie had a large room facing the street. In the afternoon when it was sunny, Kitkat would sit on the window sill in a susbeam. At night, she would curlo up at Natalie’s head. Everything done to stop her from spending the night in the room failed.l
Kitty school
Put her in a closet
Made her sit on a window
Made her dance
Dressed her in clothes
Married her to a teddy
Glaucoma
Sits outside her door
Jumps up and stays with her
posted by sandbunting @ 2:49 PM
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