Moon Night

- When the Summer Begins

A soft pat woke Nikki up from nap. She looked up and saw Rain, her friend smiling at her.

“Hello, Nikki.”

Nikki is pleased as she feels Rain’s hands reaching for her head. Rain stood up and headed towards her room. Nikki stood up and gave her body a few stretches. Nikki wondered what was going on as she followed Rain to her room. There is a lot of clothing scattered around and the room is unusually messy. When Rain approached, she saw a suitcase containing all of her clothing and leaped on it.

“Get off now, Nikki, that’s my luggage.”

“Meow~”

Rain walked up to Nikki and lifted her. Rain patted Nikki’s head and kissed it.

“We’re going to be away for a while, so be a nice girl, okay?” Rain was slowly placed on the ground as she kept packing.

Jade, the mother cat, entered the room.

“Oh, it’s that time of year.”

Nikki questioned, “What time of the year?”

“Yes, it’s that time of year—vacation time.”

“Vacation?”

“Yes, vacation. The Scott family will be away for vacation. Don’t worry, it’s only a month.”

Jade exited the room. Nikki was shocked and looked around. It makes sense now.

“Jade!”

Nikki followed Jade to the living room.

“What do you mean, they’ll be out? As in, going somewhere? For a month? No!”

“You can’t control what they’ll do, and it’s not a huge problem anyway. Freedom!”

“It’s a big concern. Are we going to starve? What will happen to us?”

“Starve? Who’s going to starve?”

Shawn, the other cat, entered the room while chasing a small rubber ball.

“Us! We’re going to starve. Rain is leaving. Who is going to look after us? I can’t sleep unless I lie on Rain’s stomach. What should we do?”

“Okay, no one’s going to starve, I’ve got you covered.” Shawn said as he began to scale the kitchen counter and drag a bag of cat treats. Rain, who had just discovered Shawn, was startled and ran to grab him.

“Shawn no! Bad cat! Papa’s going to be mad. Don’t climb into the countertops. You just ate earlier, so why are you hungry again? Wait for supper, okay?”

Rain put Shawn to the floor and went about her business.

“Since I can’t sneak around the countertops, I’ll just wait till they go to bed.”

“Shawn, if you’re going to do that, you’ll be kicked out the next time.” Jade warned.

“They’re leaving, Jade, can’t you hear Nikki? I also noticed them packing a whole bag full of snacks, which is roughly enough food for a 12-hour period. If you want to starve to death, fine, but I don’t want to.”

“Hey relax, I’m your mother, I’m going to take care of you both. I mean, Sara is going to take care of us.” Jade said calmly.

Shawn and Nikki questioned, “Who is Sara?”

“The girl next door. This is going to be great; I assure you.”