-Made in ELAR-

Vanilla Cupcakes and Chocolate Chips

The Story of our Cats

By: Sophie Long

For most of my life I had been begging and hoping for a cat. I wished on dandelions, in fountains, and just plain hoped for a cat of my very own. My best friend had a cat. The other kids at school had cats or dogs. I didn't. Every year on Christmas or my birthday I asked my parents for a cat. Finally, finally, my parents agreed.

“On one condition” they told me.

I replied “ok…”

“They have to live at Nana and Papa's house.” they responded.

“We can still visit them right?” I asked.

They told me "Of course!”

“Got it,” I said to them.

The next thing I knew, Nana was asking what type of cat I wanted. (quick FYI i was 4 or 5.)

Guess what?

“white with pink polka dots!!!” i exclaimed loudly

“Let's just get a normal white one,” she told me.

“Got it” I reluctantly replied.

She also said to me “ we should get two, to keep each other company”

I excitedly responded, “yay, more cats!”

And we were off to the pet store to get a cat.

We looked and looked but couldn't find any white cats at all. So we went home. Nana said she would check somewhere else. What do you know, she found rescue cats, at homes that either could not take care of them or did not want to. We went to get Cupcake first. We pulled up to what looked like an apartment building. Afterward, nana told me that they had a two year old who chased her around. Anyway, Nana brought the cat out in a pillow case (personally, that sounds pretty comfy). She put the cat in between Penny and me in the back seat of the van.

Penny suddenly complained, “Move the cat! I'm scared!”

So nana moved the cat to the front seat.(to be fair, the cat was thrashing like crazy!)

Later that week nana went to get the other cat named chocolate chip.

We brought them to my grandparents house to get them all settled in. Once they were, Nana and Papa dropped us off back at the house. The thing is, Nana and Papa visited us often, and by often I mean about 5 times a week and stayed for the whole day. They visited us even more often after Ruth.e, the youngest, was born. This meant the cats were on their own with no human interaction, and free reign of the house way more often than they should have.

Every weekend or so, Penny and I came over to spend the night at their house. We ran around the house, trying to catch the cats so we could hug, cuddle, and sit with them. To be frank, they did not like it, or us for that matter. After a while, Nana, Papa, and the cats moved in to be closer to us. I was so happy! I finally had cats at my house and could see them every day. As soon as they got moved in we tried to hug the cats. A few years later we got a dog named s’more‘s. This stressed out the cats quite a bit so they disliked us even more. Continue trying to befriend them, but nothing worked! Eventually, my grandparents had to move out into their own house taking the cats with them. After a month or two the cats started to change. They started to sit with us. They sometimes rubbed on our legs! They played with the laser pointer! They finally liked us!

One morning we were having a sleepover at my grandparents house. I woke up to one of the best sights in the world, a cat! I couldn’t believe it! Finally, finally! She sat there for about five minutes and then left. And then she did something that hadn’t happened before. She came back! She actually returned to sit and lay on me again. This time he sat on my chest/legs. She stayed there for what seemed like an hour and a second all at once. But, she left again. I was disappointed that she was so soon…; But that was how it always was with cupcake. She sits for a few minutes then she leaves. she doesn’t really like sitting on us because, well, she doesn’t quite like us. To my great astonishment, she came walking right back toward me! This time, she laid down right next to me, her paw directly on my stomach. I will never ever forget the joy and love and all I felt in that moment the first time the cat truly decided to like me. Finally, finally she was my friend.

The End

Real names of the cats:

Vanilla cupcake sprinkles Long, and Chocolate chip long