Five Cats and a Dog

Once there was an old woman who lived with her dog, named Daisy, and five, count them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, hungry cats.

She lived in a big, old farmhouse with a wonderful turret that had six, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, curved windows on the front of it and a cone-shaped roof with a copper, cock-a doodle-doo rooster sitting right on top.

The sun rose, shiny and bright; its golden rays slanting through the spring green leaves of the old maple tree at the side of the house and reflecting off the copper, cock-a-doodle-doo rooster.  

The old woman got up early and went into the kitchen where her hungry animals waited for breakfast.

All 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 hungry cats leapt from the floor in the kitchen up onto the counter, then down onto the floor again, rubbing against the woman’s legs and tripping her as she tried to walk in to the pantry to get their breakfast. They yowled at her loudly about how very hungry they were, and how they must be fed, and they must be fed now! Meow! Now!

Daisy, much more polite than the cats, lay down quietly in the doorway to the kitchen and waited patiently for her breakfast.  

The old woman lined five, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 kitty dishes on top of the old steam radiator in the kitchen because it was the only place that the cats wouldn’t jump up onto and knock everything over while she was trying to fill their dishes.

She opened the cabinet door in the pantry where the cat food was stored.  One cat, a big, white, boy cat with black spots, named Tom, climbed right into the cabinet amongst the bags and boxes and cans, to try to get the food out for himself. The woman laughed and pulled him out, then reached for the big, blue bag of dry cat food. 

The large bag, crinkled in her hand and all 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cats meowed loudly that they should be eating that food right now! The woman walked carefully over to the radiator with the bag held high in her hand as all five cats wove in and out between her feet. She unrolled the top of the bag, making more wonderful crinkling noises and smiling as the cats meowed in response.

She put the right amount of food in each dish and quickly as she could, set all the dishes on the floor for the cats. The cats tumbled over each other to get to the dishes. Tom pushed the others out of the way and tried to eat out of their dishes. The old woman had to keep picking Tom up and setting him back at his own dish.
Finally, with the cats happily eating their breakfast, the old woman got out Daisy’s bowl and filled it with her favorite meal, Doggie Delight. Daisy stood up in anticipation and wagged her shaggy, brown tail, politely. “There you are, my patient girl,” the woman said, and placed the big, green bowl on the floor in front of the dog.

Then the woman sat down on the stool at the kitchen counter with her head resting in her hand. She started thinking about what she would like for her own breakfast, when she felt 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 warm, furry cats rubbing against her leg, and heard 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cat meows singing through the air asking, “!s it lunchtime yet?” 

Photo by Jae Park on Unsplash