Tina and Oliver
Tina was a fine-looking lady kitten who happened to live next door
to the house with the golden retriever. She knew each of the
neighbor animals and they all definitely knew her. Tina was
the hottest thing they had ever seen. Each animal fought for the
cat’s attention but she never reciprocated like they
wished. Tina’s eyes were on one prize and one prize only.
That was
the neighbor cat named Oliver. He lived with the golden retriever
and spent a lot of time indoors with the dog. At times, he would
sneak outside with the dog when he would go to the bathroom but the
owners did not want the cat outside because he was not trained to stay
in the yard. There were too many other animals that could mess
with their beloved pet cat and the masters were afraid that the family
cat would never come back home if he escaped the yard. Tina
was always on the look out to see if Oliver would sneak out of the
house but the chances were always slim. One day, however, as Tina
was napping on the top of the fence, she saw Oliver sniffing
around the bottom of the big oak tree. Tina figured that if
all of the animals thought she was attractive, surely Oliver would
too. Tina was right.
“Why, hello there, Oliver. How did you sneak out here without
your
owners seeing?” said Tina.
Oliver replied, “Well, they forgot to shut the door and I squeezed
through the opening. I wanted to get some fresh air and to be
honest I wanted to see you. I have been watching you through my
window and I see you interact with all of the animals out here and I
want to get to know you better.”
Tina was shocked and so excited because those are just the words
she wanted to hear. “Well, how about we run away to my secret
home and we can get married and live happily ever after?”
Oliver was caught off guard by that statement but the idea excited him
as well. He thought about his life with the golden retriever and
how he loved his life but deep down he wished that he could live the
life of an outdoor cat. “Yes, I would love to, but I must first
tell the dog goodbye.” Oliver could not believe how much his life
was going to change in the near future.
Tina said, “This is going to be wonderful. I am so excited
to be able to spend the rest of my life with you. I have a nice
home myself but my dream has been to run away and live on my own with
the rest of the animals in the world.” She went on to tell him
where her secret home was and she finished the conversation by saying,
“I will be waiting on you.”
It took Oliver exactly one day to tell his golden retriever roommate
that he was leaving for good and going to get married. The dog
kept his secret and helped the cat sneak away without getting
caught. Oliver followed Tina’s directions and found her
secret home after running for twenty minutes straight. There was
no sign of Tina anywhere but there was this small little
bird sitting outside her secret home who spoke to Oliver.
“Are you looking for Tina?” the bird asked.
“I am,” replied Oliver. “Do you know where she might be?”
The bird answered, “I am sorry, but you are not the first cat to come
looking for her. She does this kind of thing all of the
time. We like to call her the runaway cat, sort of like the
runaway bride. She thinks her looks will get her anything she
wants and once she knows she has it, she runs away from it. Do
not feel bad, but my suggestion is for you to go back home and live the
good life of being a house cat.”
Oliver could not believe what he was hearing. He thought that he
had met his match made in heaven but then it turned out he had some
strange bird tell him the worst news of his life: his dream girl was a
fluke.
Oliver sat outside Tina’s secret home and thought about what had
happened in the last twenty-four hours and just as the sun was
beginning to drop, he decided to walk back home and go back to the life
he once knew. Oliver came to the conclusion that his masters knew
best, which is why he remained in the house from there on.
Author's Note: I took the original story, Mister Fox,
which was originally written by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, and changed the
story up in a major way. To summarize what the original story was
about, it was about humans. Lady Mary was a beautiful woman with
brothers and many lovers. Mister Fox was the one who stole her
heart and who intrigued her. They decided that they should get
married so she figured it would be best to live in his castle.
Mister Fox told her about his castle but never once invited her to see
it. When Mister Fox was out of town one day, Lady Mary set out to
go see his home. Once she arrived, it was awkward and
creepy. She saw signs that said things like "Be bold be bold but
not too bold." The original story turned dark once she reached
the castle and I did not want my story to be that way. In the
end, she saw many dead women in his castle and figured she was going to
be the next one killed. She even saw Mister Fox carrying a dead
woman in his castle but he denied it when she brought it up the next
day. Her brothers found out and cut Mister Fox to pieces.
I know that I took the original out of context but I liked that there
was romance within the story. I used the beginning of the
original and took a twist with the story and made it into a love
story. I wanted to make sure that the setting
was still in the same general area and with the same characters that
were mentioned in the previous stories. I enjoy
romantic stories and I wanted it to be slightly lighter story than the
original.
Coverpage
Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales.
1890. Mister
Fox
Image Information: My Castro Valley. Cats