An Unlikely Friend
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“It’s so nice out here.” Nancy smiled, going up the steps of Yomiko’s childhood home, “I love the trees and the pretty grass. There’s always a nice breeze going through here, too.”
She opened the door, the old hinges creaking, making a rather creepy sound. It didn’t help that the house was empty. But, it looked rather homey when the lights were turned on. “It’s been a while since this place has been cleaned. Did you and Michelle ever dust?” Nancy giggled, looking back at her son who had yet to ascend the stairs to the porch. This made Nancy frown, “Junior, you promised you would have fun! How can you have fun with a frown on your face?” She walked up to him and turned his chin up with her finger, smiling, “Come on, just give me a smile!”
Junior smiled, unable to resist the contagious attitude of his mother. “Sorry.” He apologized and entered, setting his suitcase down right next to the door before closing it. This place had memories for him, too. When he first met his mother. He remembered the terror he felt when he was about to shoot her and she grabbed his arm. When Yomiko yelled to him, “Junior, that woman is your mother!”, and when his gun went off due to the uncontrollable shaking of his hand. Fortunately, he had dropped it right as it went off.
He shook his head quickly to forget that and picked up his luggage again to find a suitable room. He entered a small one, finding it adequate for a summer stay. Nancy went across the house and picked the biggest room, smiling cheerfully and humming a random tune as she took out her clothes from her suitcase and started storing them in the dressers. “Did you pick a good room, Junior?” Nancy asked from across the hallway, “We can wash the sheets first if you like. It’s probably been a while, don’t you think?” She smiled warmly and went into what was Junior's room for now.
“I like it.” He replied quietly. It was indeed nice to have an actual room instead of a curtain for a wall or a wall made of books stacked together like at Yomiko's apartment. “I have a room.” He added, smiling weakly and taking his clothes out of his suitcase as well.
“I’ll do that. I will do it because I’m your mother.” Nancy nodded and took the suitcase away, “I don’t want you to do any work on your vacation.” She opened it on the bed and started to refold them and put them in the one dresser on the side of the room. “You should go look around again. Maybe find something to read.”
Junior was about to remind her that he didn’t really like books very much, but he simply nodded and walked through the house. He went upstairs and turned the lights on. It was just one big room, but it was nice with a window on the side right where the roof peaked. Of course, there were many bookcases along the walls. But, he ignored them for the most part, used to seeing a ridiculous amount of books stored in one place. At least they weren’t all on the floor stacked to fall over at any moment.
The floor creaked a little as he walked over to the window and looked out. Rays of the sun peeked through the trees outside and warmed his face through the window. He closed his eyes with a smile, perhaps now concluding that this place was not so bad. Smiling, he opened the window, feeling the fresh air rush in to take the musty smell away. He leaned out and looked down, seeing unkempt hedges along the side of the house and a few old abandoned bird’s nests inside of them. He stepped back again and just stood there, enjoying the quiet and serenity of this simple room and the wind blowing his hair ever so lightly out of his face.
After a few moments of peace, he heard a small sound and opened his eyes. He waited for a moment for it to repeat, but it did not, so he closed his eyes again. It seemed every time he would close his eyes, the noise would return. Finally, he turned around and saw a small creature looking up at him with hopeful and kind eyes. “Hello.” Junior stared at the creature blankly, which turned out to be a cat. White with spots of brown, black, and orange all over its body. It let out a small meow and swished its tail slowly as it got closer to him, perhaps wondering why the boy was not yelling at it or chasing it off. Curiosity got the best of it and it started to sniff his socks.
“What exactly are you doing, cat?” Junior looked down, “Did I step in something?”
The cat let out another small meow and started to purr again, sitting in a dignified way while still watching him. Its bushy tail wrapped around its small paws and it started to wash its face. Junior watched curiously, not ever encountering a friendly cat. Most cats ran away and hid, but this one seemed to enjoy his company. He was not normally fond of ‘animal companions’, finding it pointless to befriend something that was so much less intelligent. But, when it washed its face, he got a strange feeling. The cat was incredibly cute.
He smiled and squatted down, causing the cat to stop grooming and lean forwards to perhaps sniff his face. The cat’s nose nearly touched his before Junior flinched from being tickled by the whiskers. It was enough to make the cat jump back as well, but it didn’t run away. After deciding that it was safe to approach Junior again, the cat starting walking around him and rubbed against his back, purring loudly again.
“You are a strange creature.” Junior commented quietly as the cat came around to his side again, delicately placing a paw on his leg for attention. “What?”
The cat meowed and perched onto his leg with its front paws. It swatted his hand, beckoning for a scratch behind the ears. Junior reached out and touched the cat’s head, causing the purring to get even louder. It made him laugh quietly, “You must be lonely up here.”
After the cat got tired of being petted, it yawned and jumped up into the windowsill, laying upright on its stomach with its paws tucked under its chest. It looked so happy just to be sitting there. It was safe from harm and warm from the sun while being able to smell the interesting scents that blew through the window.
“I like this window, too.” Junior stood there, facing the window again and watching the cat until it closed its eyes to perhaps take a small nap. He smiled and scratched the cat’s head one last time before turning away, “Bye, cat.” He said, walking over to the stairs. But, he was met by Nancy as she was coming up.
Before saying anything else, he blinked and informed her, “There is a cat. It’s over there.” He looked over to it again and pointed.
“A kitty?” Nancy came all the way up and saw the adorable little fluff of fur sitting so contentedly in the window. “It’s so cute!” She exclaimed, running up to it with heavy footsteps.
The cat’s eyes immediately shot open and it ran away, jumping onto the top of a bookcase. Nancy followed it and looked up at it leering down at her, “Kitty! You are so cute! Do you live here?!” Nancy started to get excited, annoying the cat and causing its ears to flatten against its head and swish its tail angrily. “Oh I just want to give you a hug!” Nancy held her arms out and squealed, “Come here!”
The cat protested with a hiss and ran across the bookcase, jumping onto another that was farther away from this crazy, loud, squeaky voice.
“Where are you going, kitty?” Nancy asked, furrowing her brows in sadness. “Don’t you want to be my friend…?”
Junior watched the cat react angrily to Nancy, “I don’t think it likes loud noises.”
“Oh. I’m sorry, kitty.” Nancy said in a whisper, approaching the bookcase it had jumped to. It continued to watch her suspiciously, still slightly annoyed, but not as much as it had been when it was rushed by the screaming woman. “You are a very pretty kitty.” Nancy smiled, still whispering, “You must be a girl.” She reached up and tried to get it to sniff her, but the cat reached out and swatted her away. “Ow!” Nancy exclaimed, looking at the small red scratch on her hand with tears in her eyes.
“Maybe she just doesn’t like you.” Junior replied unemotionally.
“Why not? I was quiet that time.” Nancy sniffled and then snapped her head back up at the cat, “Fine, you stupid cat! Be mean!”
The cat hissed again and ran farther away, its legs waddling as fast as they could on top of the narrow bookcases. It sat down again and watched her evilly. Like it was plotting something to execute later.
Nancy pouted and went back downstairs, “I can’t believe she scratched me.” She turned to go to the bathroom and scrub the scratch.
Junior started to walk back down, but turned and looked up at the cat who seemed relieved that Nancy had left. “You can go back to the window.” He told it before heading back downstairs, as if it could understand exactly what he was saying.
He stood in the doorway of the bathroom and watched Nancy, “It doesn’t matter if the cat likes you. It is only a cat.”
“B-but it scratched me.” She replied, drying her hands off and then wiping her eyes with another sniffle.
Junior thought for a moment, “You only scared it, I think.”
“You said it didn’t like me!” Nancy exclaimed, now becoming even more emotional.
Junior shrugged, “I don’t know what a cat thinks.”
Nancy finally pulled herself together, “Make sure it stays up there. I don’t want it to scratch me again.” She left the bathroom and entered the kitchen to clean it up a bit.
Junior walked to the bottom of the staircase and looked up, seeing the cat standing at the top, looking down at him happily. “You have to stay up there.” He told it.
It meowed back at him as if to say, ‘As long as she stays down there‘.
Junior remembered that Nancy said it was a girl, so he watched it some more and tried to think of a name. “You need a name. How about…?” Junior paused in thought, no doubt about to come up with something strange. “Camilla?”
“Where did you come up with that?” Nancy asked from across the house, “I like it though. Even if she is mean.”
“I don’t know. It seems to fit.” Junior smiled and watched Camilla, who started rubbing the side of the rail with her cheek in approval. “I think she likes it.” Junior laughed quietly and then went back into his room with a smile still on his face.
After the cat incident was over, Nancy continued to clean and stock the fridge with food she had brought. “I wonder how far a store is from here…” She said quietly, Junior sitting at the table lost in his own thoughts. He heard her, but it took him a moment to respond.
“I don’t remember.” He replied, not seemingly worried about it. He simply stared at the table, counting the small rings of the wood that had been used to make it and noticing where the finish had been scratched off. He thought he saw a few tiny footprints and it made him chuckle. But, he wiped them off with his sleeve so that Nancy wouldn’t get mad at the cat.
“Well, I’m just going to make a simple dinner. I’m too tired to do much of anything besides noodles.” She turned and smiled, her hair falling from the clip that always failed to hold it back completely. She tucked the fallen locks behind her ear and then continued cooking.
It didn’t take long before it was finished and the set the table. “It smells good! I’m so hungry after such a long day!” She smiled widely and served Junior before herself, “You can have as much as you want. You are growing, after all!”
“Alright.” Junior had to admit, he was rather hungry. His mouth watered and his eyes subconsciously got bigger as he watched the noodles settle into his bowl. With a small smile, he began to eat, slurping the long noodles until his mouth could not hold any more and then biting them off, letting the remaining noodles fall back into the bowl. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but there wasn’t really another way to do it.
Nancy giggled when Junior slurped a noodle and it touched his nose before disappearing into his mouth. “You are so silly!” She giggled again and touched his nose, causing Junior to blush. “I don’t think I’ve seen you eat like that.”
“Sorry.” Junior replied, his face still red. How could he let himself eat like such a pig?
“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter. You are only in front of your mother.” Nancy replied. She seemed to like pointing out that she was his mother as often as she could. Each time she said that, Junior got a strange feeling in his stomach. It was something like nervousness. But, perhaps it would go away through the summer. He hadn’t really been fond of leaving his friends, especially Anita, but he was beginning to find a few things he liked about his mother and the place he was staying.
After they finished eating dinner, Nancy took the dishes and started to wash them. As Junior sat there watching her, he got an idea.
“Maybe… I should send a letter to tell the others that we arrived safely.” He said, wanting dearly to talk to his friend Anita in private. If he used the phone, it would be obvious and Nancy would no doubt get jealous.
“That’s a good idea! You should go do that while I finish up and get ready for bed!” Nancy smiled and put the dishes in the dish drainer to dry.
Junior smiled and disappeared from the table in a flash, finding some paper and heading to his room. He sat at a small desk in the corner and turned a lamp on with a smile. He stared at the paper intently, trying to figure out how to start it. Just when he was about to write, Camilla jumped up onto the desk and lay down on the very piece of paper he was going to write on. “Camilla. You are not supposed to be in here.” He said quietly, looking over his shoulder and then standing up, closing the door so that Nancy would not see. He sat back down at the desk, “I have to write a letter.”
Camilla looked up at him, not caring one bit that she was in his way. She yawned and stretched out. Junior sighed and scooted back in his chair. “Sit… in my lap… so I can tell my friends about you.”
Camilla watched him a moment and then looked down at his comfortable looking lap. She jumped onto it and curled up, purring happily. Junior chuckled and blew the cat hair off of the paper before writing again. He had quite an interesting story to tell his friends about his first day at the cabin with his mother. He felt contented and happy with the day, which was a feeling he did not get often. Something about the small and warm ball of fur in his lap seemed to fill a hole that had opened once he had left. It was… good to make a new friend.
(( Note: This has VERY small references to my other fanfic of R.O.D. But, it is mostly just a cute story about Nancy, Junior, and a cat. ^_^ ))
