| rdfs:comment
| - "Oh, they're so sweet!" Kate cried as she burst in through the front door. Mittens, her cat, had given birth to four tiny kittens while Kate had been at school. The kittens were tiny and pink; their eyes were closed and their ears were stuck back. They didn't look at all like their mother, who has bright green emerald eyes, pointed ears, and the silkiest black fur Kate had ever known a cat to have. Mittens was licking some sticky gooey stuff off the newest kitten. Kate thought it must have tasted horrible, but then reminded herself that cats also licked parts of themselves that she wouldn't want to do in a million years. Kate reached towards one of the kittens. Mittens meowed in protest and flicked her tail. "Oops, sorry, Mittens," Kate apologised. "I forgot that cats are protective of the
|
| abstract
| - "Oh, they're so sweet!" Kate cried as she burst in through the front door. Mittens, her cat, had given birth to four tiny kittens while Kate had been at school. The kittens were tiny and pink; their eyes were closed and their ears were stuck back. They didn't look at all like their mother, who has bright green emerald eyes, pointed ears, and the silkiest black fur Kate had ever known a cat to have. Mittens was licking some sticky gooey stuff off the newest kitten. Kate thought it must have tasted horrible, but then reminded herself that cats also licked parts of themselves that she wouldn't want to do in a million years. Kate reached towards one of the kittens. Mittens meowed in protest and flicked her tail. "Oops, sorry, Mittens," Kate apologised. "I forgot that cats are protective of their new babies." Mittens purred and rubbed her head against Kate's outstretched hand. Just then, Kate's mum wandered into the room. "Kate?" she said. Then she smiled. "Oh, I see you've met the new arrivals." "Yeah. It's a shame Mittens won't let me stroke them." "I'm sure she will in a few days. Besides, they probably wouldn't be too nice to stroke right now anyway, with their fur not growing yet." Mittens flicked her tail accusingly, as if she understood what they were saying. Kate and her mother laughed at Mittens' display of emotion; it almost looked as if she was frowning at them. "Let's hope the kittens are at least half as smart as their mother!" Kate's mum joked. ***** "Katie, have you seen my purse?" mum called from the parent's bedroom. "Why? Has it gone missing?" Kate asked. "Yes. And we can't leave without it because the keys are in there." One of Mitten's kittens- a boy with mainly black fur but a white patch on his nose- was sitting outside the bedroom door. Kate and her mum had no idea that he could actually understand what they were saying. "Where did you last have it?" Kate's dad asked, looking in one of the draws and rumadging through a pile of pairs of socks. "I'm not sure. Kate, help us look, would you, dear?" Kate and her parents began searching the house. The little kitten wandered around too, but Kate knew he wasn't really helping; he wouldn't have known they were looking for something in the first place. The little kitten suddenly realised he could smell something. It reminded him of Kate's mum. But she was looking through a cupboard in the bathroom on the other side of the house. He sniffed again. Yep, the smell got stronger as he came close to the cupboard in the living room. The smell was very strong now. He looked underneath, and there it was. A small brown thing with a cobweb ontop of it. He crawled underneath avoiding the dead woodlice, and picked up this mysterious object. It was a little big for him to carry so he dragged it out. Maybe this was what everyone was looking for? He decided to bring it to Kate and see. Kate was amazed. Mum was amazed. Even dad was amazed, and he was never usually amazed at anything apart from Kate doing a backflip on the trampoline. "I think that kitten has picked up intelligence from it's mother" mum said to Kate in the car while taking her to school. "Remember that time Mittens found your favourite cuddly toy that had slid down the back of your bed?" Kate wasn't listening. She was thinking about the kitten. She was certain there was something special about him; she would love to keep him, but she knew that if she asked her mum she'd say having mittens around was enough. In fact, they hadn't planned for their cat to have kittens in the first place. Mum had said that after the kittens had been born, she was going to get Mittens neutured so that they wouldn't end up with any more kittens. It was soon twelve weeks since the kittens were first born. Kate had been dreading this time. She wished she could keep all of the kittens, or one at least. And she knew exactly which one. But she didn't dare ask her mum about keeping him. She knew what would happen; her mum would say no, and then Kate would be upset about it for days. She tried to forget all about it. Besides, she might be able to see the kittens for a few weeks yet. Maybe people wouldn't be interested in buying kittens? She truly hoped so, but the kittens were so cute, she doubted that it would happen. All too soon, people were coming to look at the kittens. One time there was a four-year-old girl and her mother. The girl was not who Kate would have wanted to take one of the kittens. She grabbed one of them by the tail and pulled it into her arms, where she started rocking it back and forth like a baby, only rougher. The kitten meowed in protest and, like it's mother had taught it too if it was being attacked, lashed out it's claws. The girl screamed and started crying as she saw the bleeding cut on her arm. "You should train those kittens better" shouted the angry mother as she carried her screaming daughter out the door. "I can't imagine what would have happened if we'd bought one. We'd all be attacked!" Kate waited until the door was closed. "Well she should train her daughter better," she complained. "If a kitten was brought up with a girl like that it would scratch everyone for sure!" Many other people came to look at the kittens, but most of them had kids who had never even stroked a cat before, let alone looked after one. Eventually a twelve year old boy came with his grandmother, and they bought two of the kittens. The boy was very gentle with them and he seemed like the perfect owner. The kittens were growing up. They were getting too big for the house and there were two left. A woman with a shy young child came to see them; the child hid behind her mothers legs when they arrived, but once she saw the kittens she was soon sitting by the basket and stroking them gently. Her favourite one seemed to be a kitten with a tuxedo fur pattern. They decided to buy that one; the woman apologised that they could only take one cat. That left the black kitten with the white nose. There were no more visitors. "I'll have to call the animal shelters and see if anyone can have him. Otherwise..." she paused. "Otherwise, we'll have to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep." Kate waited patiently, stroking the kitten who was sitting on her lap. Her mum came back into the room ten minutes later. At first she was quiet. Then she spoke. "Katie, I'm afraid all the shelters nearby are full up," she told her daughter as gently as she could. "We have to put him down?" Kate gasped with tears in her eyes. "I'm afraid so." "But... why can't we keep him? Please, mum! You saw how he found your purse!" "We can only cope with one cat, Katie. Mittens eats too much as it is." Kate was quiet for a moment, but then she got mad. "You're saying that we either keep that kitten or we kill it. It's not fair! Why should he have to die for no reason? You won't let me keep him and you're just going to kill him!" "Kate..." "It's not fair. And Toby believes me." "Toby?" "The kitten, his name's toby." "Katie, now you've given him a name you've become attached to him. I'm sorry, but we cannot keep another cat in the house! And that's final!" "Well I won't let you kill Toby!" Kate shouted, picking up the kitten. "You'll have to kill me first!"
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)