Persephone's Christmas

Christmas story

This is the story of a little kitten who discovers the meaning of the Spirit of Christmas together with humans.

Important note.

Persephone is my baby cat, and I wanted to create a story based on her and the events that happened that marked her life, including her first Christmas with us. The only thing I am looking for with this story is to make the reading public aware of the life of defenseless animals and how much we can change their lives.

I think it’s a good story for that.

As the first snowflake fell, it whispered secrets of a winter’s tale waiting to unfold....

What is Christmas, and why do humans love it so much?

I don’t know about that, but I’ll tell you my story of what it was like for me, my first Christmas.

My life changed when some humans caught me, two humans to be exact.

I was desperately calling mom because she had left me alone, and it was raining hard and cold.

She was supposed to be giving me her warm milk to sleep. Mom had left a long time ago and wouldn’t let me join her. She said it was dangerous, but, as soon as she got some food, she would come back with me.

We had several days without food and only for a few nights she let me accompany her to places where I could get a bite to eat, but we didn’t get anything because huge, hungry dogs would also go to the same places and when they saw us, they would chase us angrily.

They too were desperate for food.

Mom was exhausted by the time we got back to our little hiding place, which was a cardboard box on top of a roof. I lay down next to her to drink some milk, she licked my little head and told me to sleep because the next one was going to be better.

But it wasn’t true.

I opened my little eyes when I realized that my little paws were wet because it was pouring rain and the cardboard box where we were resting had fallen apart, even so, mom said it was better for us to stay in there.

It rained all day and got worse in the afternoon, so we had to go to a tree that was on the side of the roof where we were. I followed mom to the top, and then she left me there, promising to come back soon.

Then, a lot of time passed and I started to get even more scared. I was alone, I was hungry, and I needed mommy and then, it happened....

I must have screamed very loudly because two humans approached the tree, they were looking up, looking for me and I kept screaming for mom to hear me and come save me from them soon.

I calmed down a bit when the humans left, but after a while they came back with something they were carrying between them and that helped one of them to climb the tree and no matter how much I hid, the younger human managed to catch me.

I screamed and pulled out my little paws, I resisted, but I was tiny, and the human didn’t let go of me. She seemed to want to communicate with me, she didn’t look annoyed like the rest of the humans we often met, I just didn’t understand her.

He spoke strangely.

When she took me down with her, the bigger human took me in her hands and watched me, then she closed her eyes and opened her mouth and I was afraid she was going to eat me.

Mom said that humans were very mean and cruel.

Many times she was hurt because of them, they said they did not understand that we also had a beating heart and, therefore, needs and emotions.

Sometimes we cried with sadness and pain because they were chasing us to harm us and I didn’t want those humans to hurt me.

“Mommy!” I kept shouting in desperation... “Mommy, where are you?”

The human caressed my little head, but I didn’t want her caresses, I wanted mommy’s caresses.

“Mamita!” I cried louder... “come back, mamita!” And then, she appeared.

“Easy, my baby” she said, and I squirmed from the human’s grip, I wanted to be next to mommy.

“Tell him to let go of me” I asked restlessly and desperately.

“They won’t hurt you” I looked at her, confused.

“But you said humans are bad.”

“Not them, they have given me food and water. Now I want you to listen to me...”

The human started walking, pulling me away from mom, and I cried again.

“Mom, where are they taking me? Tell them to let me go.”

“Honey, they’re taking you to a place where you’ll be safe from evil humans.”

I looked at the humans again.

They were big and ugly, they had no hair or claws, no long whiskers or tails like us, they only had hair on their heads and walked only on two legs. They looked very strange.

“Mamita, I’m sure they won’t eat us” she denied with a smile.

“They’re going to treat you very well. You know, they have more cats in their humane shelter and I always see that they spoil them a lot.”

“Will I have little friends?”

“I’m sure it is.”

Mom walked behind the humans, and they didn’t seem to mind. They communicated with each other, and then they came to a huge shelter that they pulled me into, but not Mom.

She stood in the doorway, and before I yelled at her to come into the place with me, the younger human put something around my neck and lowered me to the ground, so I ran to the mom.

She stroked and licked my little head.

“I was so scared when you left me alone” I said crying, not wanting to separate from her.

“My baby, you’re going to be just fine now. You’re safe, here.”

“So, you and I will be safe at last?” She shook her head and I looked at the humans.

The humans were watching us very attentively and the older one went somewhere, but soon returned with food and water which she placed in front of us.

Mom was happy because there was a lot of yummy food, and she started purring between the human’s paws, and she leaned over and petted her. She did the same with me, but I didn’t purr, even though I was happy because of the food and Mom.

When we finished eating, the human grabbed me again, but Mom just stood there, looking at me tenderly.

“Come on in, Mommy,” I told her so she wouldn’t get a cold. It was warm and dry in there.

“Listen, sweetheart...” he moves a little closer, but not to enter the human’s shelter. “You’ll stay here with them.”

He points to the humans who kept watching us.

“Why?”

I still didn’t understand why he didn’t want to go into that place with me, it was very spacious, and he had made sure that those humans were good.

“I can’t be with you inside their home, but they have promised me to take good care of you.”

“Are you abandoning me?”

I was terrified that it would be like that.

I tried to climb down from the young human hands when I heard those words, and she carefully pulled me down. I ran back to mom, but there was something long, attached to my neck that allowed me to walk, only so far.

“No, my love. I love you so much that I am giving you a safe home, food and a human family that will love you very much.”

She came over and I snuggled up to her. Mom nuzzled and licked me and then pulled away, looking at the humans. The older one stroked her again, and the younger one pulled on the long thing attached to my neck and took me in her hands once more.

“Please don’t leave me. I’m so scared, mamita” I shouted to her as I saw the human was pushing us away.

“I’ll come every night to see you” he promises, looking at me calmly, “now, be a good kitty and behave yourself”.

“Don’t abandon me, take me with you!”

I started crying harder, I didn’t want to be without my mommy.

The humans wrapped me in a warm cloth and put me in a cardboard box, but I didn’t want to be there, I untangled myself and got out of the box and ran all over the place looking for a way out. The humans were not bothered by my action, one of them showed her teeth again and grabbed me carefully, taking me to another side of their shelter. Then she lowered me to the ground, but she didn’t leave, she started talking in her language and many cats came out from different places.

I stood still, watching them all, there were big fat cats, lazy cats, and there were also some a little bigger than me.

The young human bent down and placed food on them. Everyone ran, even the lazy ones. They would run past me and push me around as if they didn’t realize I was there. Then another human took me to eat with them, only I was no longer hungry, still, I stood still among the rest.

They grunted among themselves and ate desperately. One of them came up to me and sniffed me, then left. After a while, a bigger one did the same, but this one growled at me and slapped me on the head.

“Move little girl, or I’ll devour you” he said, and I looked at him scared, I was so big and fat.

“Don’t mind him, he likes to scare the new ones” said one of the smaller ones. “Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked, and I barely denied “I understand, you’re scared, but you’re safe here”

“That’s what mom told me and left me.”

“Don’t be resentful, honey. Believe me, it was the best thing he could do for you. Outside there is a lot of danger for us, terrible dogs and humans too who like to harm us for pleasure. Being here is like paradise.”

It was true what he said. We often saw other cats suffering from the same bad luck.

“Do they really like living with humans?” I asked in amazement, she shook her head without hesitation.

“They are perfect, look how they treat us.”

“Did your mommy abandon you too?”

She looked at me and then at the humans and back at me.

“Mom and siblings were killed by a pack of dogs. I ran very fast so they wouldn’t catch me, I was scared and couldn’t stop crying. A human found me and put me inside a plastic bag and placed me in a bucket where humans throw their food when they don’t want it anymore, but the human heard me crying, I could hardly breathe, it was too hot inside the bag. She arrived before I suffocated. I was as small as you and dirty and full of fleas, but the humans washed me many times, then let me sleep with them in their bed. Now look at me, do I look unhappy?”

I had been speechless, looking at the rest of them.

“We all have our story, but the same outcome. Living with those humans was the best thing that could have happened to us.” He says starting to walk, “Now eat and sleep, it’s something you’ll be able to do without feeling afraid.”

The older human started to speak her tongue, and I was surprised when the cats approached her, as if she was calling them, then they all looked at me and I got nervous, I didn’t know why they were doing it, but it was obvious that they trusted those humans.

“Congratulations, Persephone,” said the friendly kitten.

I looked at her, confused.

“Persephone, what is that?”

“Your name, they give us one so they can call us when they need us. They call me Hera.”

“What’s this they put on me?”

“It’s clothes, you see that they and also wear them? It’s to cover their bodies.” It was true, they wore it too, “Do you notice they don’t have hair like us? That’s why they wear clothes to cover themselves from the cold.”

I had already noticed that. They were ugly and hairless.

“I want to be with mom,” I said to Hera, and she shook her head.

“I know. I also arrived small and alone, but now you are part of this family.”

I didn’t want a good life if I wasn’t with mom, I wanted her to be safe, too, with me.

It wasn’t long before the other cats went to their places to sleep, and although I resisted not to, sleep overcame me. That night I spent without mom, it was the first of many.

One morning, when I woke up, there was a big tree with lights and balls, all the cats seemed to like that, they spent the whole day playing with it. Under the tree there were cardboard boxes, I could smell them, I smelled almost all of them until the humans took me in their arms again. What I was wearing on my body was warm, but too cumbersome to run in.

In the afternoon it was cold, and the humans were coming in and out of their shelter. The rest of the cats were inside their boxes sleeping, and I was worried about mom, I hadn’t seen her for days, and I was afraid that something had happened to her, or she had forgotten me.

Hera had become my friend, she was always with me explaining the strange human behavior. Since she had more time, I understood them better.

“Something is going on” said Hera, very attentive to the humans, “I think something bad, do you see their faces? They are worried.”

“What do you think it is?” Hera just looked at me, but didn’t answer.

I was there watching them, how they moved in and out of the house. Hera told me that they did not have shelters, they were residences, their homes.

After a while, they returned with a cardboard box and with another human accompanying them, they got lost in a room that they kept with the door closed.

At night, the humans began to put something on our heads, it was warm and had a bell on the end. Then, they began to sing, that’s what Hera said, but I didn’t see that they were singing, they were more like horrifying moans.

“Why do they do that?” I asked curiously.

“Because it’s Christmas.”

“And what’s that?”

“It’s a special night for humans. They celebrate with a dinner and stay up all night, sing and dance, that’s how they celebrate the arrival of the Christmas spirit.”

“So, what’s so special about it?”

“The young human say it’s a magical night because they get to be with their loved ones, if only for that one night.”

No wonder, there were so many humans in the house, but none of them bothered us or tried to hurt us. They came because of the Christmas spirit.

“Can Mamita come tonight too?”

Hera looked at me very attentively and gave me a smile.

“Only if you believe in the spirit of Christmas.”

I watched the humans to understand what they were doing, but I didn’t understand. Their behavior was always strange. Hera asked me to close my little eyes and think of mommy, and so I did. I prayed to the spirit of Christmas that I could be with my mommy that night.

Then we went to eat turkey meat, delicious. I ate quickly because I wanted to continue observing the humans. They seemed strange to me, but somewhat interesting.

Later that night, the big clock chimed, and the humans were silent until the chimes stopped ringing, then they began to hug each other as a sign of affection and the smaller humans ran to the tree to open the boxes.

Many shouted, but Hera said it was out of happiness because the spirit of Christmas had brought them the gifts they had asked for.

So, stealthily, I approached the tree, I wanted my present too.

I wanted my mommy with me, only all the boxes were opened by humans, and she was nowhere to be found.

I began to cry very loudly with sadness and walked away from the humans.

“Persephone...” called Hera, but even she did not want to be with her.

I hid in one of the empty boxes in the corner, away from everyone.

“There you are” said the young human as she grabbed me and I cried harder because I now understood her language.

I didn’t want to become a human!

“I have a present for you.” He says, and leads me away from everyone, to the room where they had entered the afternoon.

It was a warm room, had a huge bed on which she sat. She hugged me and kissed my little head, then lifted me up and placed me in front of her. She watched me carefully and something happened because she started to cry.

Mom said that humans also felt the same emotions as we did, but they didn’t understand ours. So I didn’t know what to do but cry too. Then she wiped her face and took me to a corner where there was a cardboard box, sat down on the floor and opened it in front of me.

“Persephone...” she said crying, and I looked at the inside of the box, unable to believe that there was my mommy lying there between warm blankets.

The human lowered me into the box, which was roomy for both of us.

“Mamita” I meowed low and she barely opened her little eyes.

“He’ll be fine, he just needs to rest and eat well,” he says, sniffling his nose.

I didn’t understand what he meant, but soon I knew.

Mom had been attacked by dogs and injured, but the humans were able to rescue her in time and brought her home to heal her.

“They are together now and this will always be their home” said the human, gently stroking Mom’s little head and then mine, “Merry Christmas, Persephone.”

He got up and left the room, closing it again.

I snuggled up to Mom, licked her and cried for what had happened to her, but I also thanked the spirit of Christmas for letting me be with her again.

With the help of the humans, Mommy healed and stayed with me. Every year, I would ask the spirit of Christmas that Mommy and I would always be together.

Now I understood what Christmas was for humans and how important it was for them. Christmas was love, being surrounded by your loved ones like my mommy, and that’s all it took to be happy.

That was the true meaning of Christmas.

END.