The Cat is a new Novel, in progress, from James Strauss
Enjoy and comment
THE CAT, Chapter I
THE CAT Prologue A very minor tendril of the lightning strike caught the running cat’s head on its left side. The thin super-heated tendril split the cat’s ear half way down and tossed its body down and to one side. The cat lay seemingly lifeless while the...
THE CAT, Chapter II
The cat rested. He lay as he’d been before, not wanting to deal with the things that had been circling around in his head. He knew he was risking a small bit by returning to the bear ravaged den, and he hated the scent the grousing, rolling predator had left behind,...
THE CAT, Chapter III
The light faded from the valley, the sunlight descending the canyon wall beyond the river like a curtain slowly falling on life itself. But not to the cat. The night brought stealth and slow-moving life to a very busy but also very elusive forest during daylight...
THE CAT, Chapter IV
The cat reacted in shock, the unexpected recovery of the hominid, from what seemed like deep sleep, surprising him to the point of near shock. The cat froze in place, its own eyes staring into the dark, shiny and unblinking eyes of the human. The meatball was...
THE CAT, Chapter V
The cat lay erect, able to give over a good portion of its living existence to sleep without ever having to slip into a languid defenseless slumber. His eyes filmed over, his translucent third eyelid drew across his eyes for protection, and to moisten them while still...
THE CAT, Chapter VI
The boy reached out toward the trunk of the large but slender oak but stopped himself when he looked into the cat’s eyes. The cat had gone to the tree first, upon hearing the approach of something not natural or native to the surrounding area. The boy had been slower...
The Cat, Chapter VII
THE CAT Chapter VII Slowly, ever so slowly, the cat withdrew back into the underbrush, using the super sensitive fur on his backside to assure that he guided himself silently, and without touching anything substantial. Flicking the tip of his tail, he brushed...
THE CAT, Chapter VIII
The cat had not disappeared. He’d withdrawn back into the clustered thickness of low scrub that dominated the bottom of the forest, like a wavy and near limitless thick rug. The writhing and waving plant growth of small size, where rivulets of wind were able to creep...
THE CAT, Chapter IX
The big cat carefully and silently backed up into the cleft and then, using its extraordinary strength and sinuously maneuverable body, eased up out of the rocks and moved slowly toward where the humans from further up the valley had descended down into his territory....
THE CAT, Chapter X
The boy took almost no time at all to spear another fish, this one not quite as large as the last one, but still large enough to force him to get completely wet before he could land it on the near shore. He used his knife to gut and clean it as best he could, holding...
THE CAT, Chapter XI
The cat lay flat inside the cleft, sleepily glancing out toward the scene before him, from time to time. He could not remember ever feeling so relaxed, the great ball of fish flesh resting inside his stomach, while his tribe worked at doing interesting stuff outside....
THE CAT, Chapter XII
The cat moved carefully but quickly through the night. Although a path down from the canyon wall would be much easier to negotiate, it required a lengthy easy walk through the trees along the top of the lip of the abyss. He knew right away that it was the night wind...
THE CAT, Chapter XIII
The cat rested through the day, occasionally looking out of half of one eye, toward where the new members of the pride passed back and forth, all of them making believe the cat wasn’t there. The cat passed semi-conscious moments reflecting on how easy it would be to...
THE CAT, Chapter XIV
The hike down to the falls proved more difficult than either the boy or the warrior imagined. Attempting to stay inside the outside edge of the forest, in order to remain invisible from any observers that might be located up on the canyon rim, was difficult. The...
THE CAT, Chapter XV
The cat found a place near the bottom of the mildly inclined slope face. He settled in under the outward thrusting branches of a huge pine. The aroma, the deep bed of needles no insects could inhabit, and the gentle wind that wafted its way among the easy waving...
THE CAT, Chapter XVI
Hasti sat next to the boy, his head at almost exactly the same height as the that of the standing human. He sat close, but not too close, knowing each and every nuance of the boy’s movement, breathing, and even facial expression. The cat could not see behind himself...
THE CAT, Chapter XVII.
The return to their encampment took much longer than the trip out. The body of the animal suspended between them was heavy and ungainly. They could not travel too fast across the forest floor because the hanging body would begin to swing to the point where they could...
THE CAT, Chapter XVIII
The boy laid down to rest near the very back of the lean-to, gathering some leaves the two adult women had somehow strung together to act as a covering for sleep. There was no warmth in laying under the leaves, however, certainly nothing like luxuriating under a...
THE CAT, Chapter XIX
Cetan and Tama gathered leaves into the sunset, only stopping from making their runs back and forth to the fire in order to eat what fish the women had cooked. There were no meal times. They ate when they had food until they were full and then saved what they could to...
THE CAT, Chapter XX
THE CAT Chapter XX The boy lay awake in the night, listening to the slight changes of small jungle sounds, as they worked their way through the heavy material to arrive at the side of the river where they were encamped. The warrior was asleep. The boy knew that...
THE CAT, Chapter XXI
The cat moved through the forest underbrush, slipping from side to side, making sure his front paws gentled down instead of solidly confronted the padded forest mat of long-accumulated and partially rotted vegetation. The beaten course of travel the intruding group of...
THE CAT, Chapter XXII
The cat returned, not moving back along the trails and paths he used to make his journey to the very edge of his territory. He didn’t think about that part of his decision to return to where the humans were putting together what he knew would be his large single meal...
THE CAT, Chapter XXIII
The cat moved again, this time backing slowly into the heavier brush until fully concealed. The boy watched Hasti move, so fluidly and deliberately that, with the warriors attempting to come down the path, as ordered by their leaders, it gave every appearance that...
THE CAT, Chapter XXIV
When Althesis and his men were gone, Tinda departed. The cat came to its feet as he left. Both Cetan and the boy nervously watched, as the cat followed the departing sub-chief for a few man lengths before turning to look back at them. Hasti's head swung slowly back...
THE CAT, Chapter XXV
The raft came in toward the river bank hard and fast, faster than the boy, or anyone on the raft, except for the cat, was ready for. Hasti leaped from the bow of the raft just as it struck one of the larger rocks sticking up just above the water, its revealed size...