Whiskey's Secret

Whiskey, a Wolf hound, and his three buddies were out walking one morning in their favorite field when they heard a strange sound coming from a fallen tree.

Sandy, a Russian Blue cat with thick gray-blue fur, climbed onto the tree trunk to investigate. “Hey,” she said, “I see some kittens in this hollowed-out tree and they’re the ones we heard crying.” She craned her neck to get a better look inside. “There’s five of them.”

“They’re probably hungry,” Beauty, the black and white Spaniel, said. “I wonder where their mother is.”

“We should find Susie, she’ll know what to do with them,” Whiskey said.

“I’ll go and find her,” Beauty called out as she jumped from the log. She scampered through the woods, across a field of corn and then down a dusty road to where Susie lived in a rusty broken-down car that used to be the color of sky blue.

“Susie,” she yelled, “you have to come with me.”

“Who’s out there and what’s so urgent that you have to disturb my naptime?”

“I’m Beauty, a friend of Whiskey’s. He’s found five little kittens. All of them are crying and we don’t know what to do.”

The car door opened and Susie, a black Labrador Retriever, stepped out into the bright sunshine. She shielded her eyes against the brightness as she stretched her legs to shake the sleepiness away. “I guess I’m ready to come with you.”

“It’s a nice sunny day, Susie. You nearly missed it.”

“When you get old like me, you have to take naps too, in case of an emergency like this.”

Susie and Beauty enjoyed a chat while trotting back across the fields and woods.

“Morning, guys,” Susie said to the others as they came to the fallen tree. She heard the kittens crying and went over to take a look at them. “They’re really cute.”

Holly, a black and chocolate cat, came running from the underbrush.

“Get away from my babies. Who are you? Leave them alone?”

“We heard them crying,” Susie said, “and they’ve been crying for a long time. Where have you been all this time?”

“Their father pulled me away from them because he said he wanted me to look after someone else’s kittens.”

“Maybe we should introduce ourselves,” Whiskey said. “This is Beauty. The bottom half of her tail is white and the top half is back. Susie, to my left, is our senior dog. Then on my right is Sandy, she’s a Russian Blue kitty with mauve footpads and really dark green eyes. She’s very different type of cat for this area. And my name is Whiskey. I’m a gray Wolf hound.”

“Nice to meet all of you. My name is Holly and I’m a replica of my mother with same orange calico color fur as hers.”

“Who’s the father that dragged you away?” Whiskey asked.

“His name is Butch and he’s a ginger calico, he’s usually okay. I don’t know what’s got into him today.”

“We can find him if you want us to, Holly,” Sandy said. “And teach him a lesson to respect you.”

“Thanks guys, but you don’t have to do that for me.”

“Okay then, I guess we’ll be going on with our walk,” Whiskey said. “Take care, Holly.”

“Thanks, you take care too.”

Whiskey and his friends meandered through the field, enjoying the peacefulness and chasing a few baby mice that popped up from their nest as they passed by.

They stopped by a pond at the bottom of the field. Whiskey lay on a round flat stone to watch the goldfish swimming around in circles.

“What’s going on in your head, Whiskey,” Susie asked.

“I’m thinking of Holly and that miserable ginger calico. I’m thinking we should watch over her for a while.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sandy said.

“Imagine being dragged away from you new babies,” Beauty said. “He was very bad to do that.”

“Okay,” Whiskey said, “are you all going to help protect Holly?”

“Yes, we are, Whiskey,” Sandy said.

They gave up the luxury of lying by the pond and made their way back to Holly and her kittens.

“Holly, we’ve made a decision,” Whiskey said. “We’re going to protect you from that bully.”

“You’re all being very kind to do this for me.”

Butch had been listening from behind a peony bush with big red flowers. Soon he had heard enough. “So, you all think you can stop me getting my lady?”

“Go ahead and try us,” Sandy said.

“Your lady, as you put it, has five kittens to look after,” Susie said. “Leave her alone.”

“What I do with Holly is none of your business.”

Whiskey stretched to his full height. “Do you want to deal with me?”

Butch looked up at Whiskey and realized how big he was. “I’ll be back. You can’t keep watching her all the time.” Butch turned and ran toward the

edge of the field.

“Don’t worry, Holly, one of us will be here looking after you,” Susie said.

“I wish I knew why he’s acting so mean today. He’s usually very good to me.”

“If that’s the case, I suggest we find him and see what’s going on,”

Whiskey said.

“Holly, tell me what you’ve named your kittens,” Susie said.

“Susie, we’ll off to go look for Butch,” Whiskey said.

“Okay, Whiskey. See you later.”

“My little ones all look so much alike. You see this one, she is almost all black with a little bit of cream on her tummy her name is Poppy. This one is Fudge because he’s blackest of them all. Here’s Lucy, she’s all chocolate brown. She’s a perky little thing even though she’s the smallest. This little one is Bree. She has my mix of colors and she’s feisty but she can stay out of mischief unlike her brother Teddy. He’s another chocolate one and he already pesters his sisters.