Dog and Cat 

Dog liked to swim in the Betsy Creek. He loved the cool refreshing feel of the waves on his chocolate brown fur, the sandy damp lake floor on his paws and the huge friendly salmon swimming below him. He was a stray, living by himself in the wilderness, sometimes venturing into the old city next door. The fleas were aggravating, and it was freezing in the winter time, but life was good.

In the mornings, Dog woke at the crack of dawn and feasted on his daily meal of rats, rabbits, and any remains of rubbish he could find in the trash cans of human’s homes, who, for some reason, threw out large quantities of their meals everyday.

He didn’t like city though: it was too loud, with too many people, and loud moving objects that had loud people in them. But the worse thing was the group of mean looking men always there, with leashes, muzzles and Animal Control written all over their clothing. The ones who came from the horrid so-called Dog Pound, where he could hear the whimpers and whines of dogs there, just like himself. Dog had seem them scooping up helpless puppies and tossing them into barred cages like they were nothing but sacks of flour. How he would hate to be in a cage! Trapped and defenseless… he shuddered just to think about it, and continued his swim.

Dog never stayed in the city for more than a day. He only went there for supplies or news from the other town strays. Dog liked them all, but didn’t they know they’ll soon get thrown in the pound eventually? The forest, Dog’s home, was off limits to the dog catchers. He didn’t really know who owned the land, but was grateful they weren’t kicking him out of his safe haven.

Although, if the dog catchers ever came to the forest, what would happen to them? He thought. Would they get kicked out, or would no one care? If no one did do anything, Dog was sure that he would think of something that will drive them out. With that happy thought, Dog started to paddle around the lake to the deeper end, when he heard the cry of help.

A yelping noise could be heard, clearly in distress, and Dog swam towards the vociferation of the victim. Although, as he got closer, Dog thought the sound was coming from a cat, not dog. Maybe it wasn’t. He had only heard cats a few times in the dark alleys, their glowing eyes glared at Dog gawkily when he got near their territory, and he gruffly gathered himself to get going.

But he saw it was indeed a cat. An orange and white striped tabby treading in the treacherous and tainted turquoise waters. There were other cats sitting calmly on the land, and Dog guessed questionably they knew what was going on, but the cats didn’t conflict. Exactly why they didn’t do anything, he didn’t know such a thing.

Dog didn’t know how cats would handle such things like this. The ones in the city seemed just pure evil, and destructive, but cat or no cat, this creature was in danger and he wanted to help. She seemed to be struggling to hold her head above the water, and would surely drown in a matter of seconds, but the cat hissed at Dog when he tried to help, “No, I can help myself! I don’t need anyone to help me!”

“Oh really?” he asked. “Because you sure look fine to me”

The cats on the higher land smirked and laughed tauntingly. “Yeah, sure Tigress!” A grey tomcat yelled. “Just let a dog save your miserable life, you worthless thing.”

Dog growled and barked at the cats, and they scurried away. Tigress glared at Dog, just like the cats he encountered on his pleasant stroll in the city.

“Okay. Suit yourself, Michael Phelps” He didn’t go away though. Dog knew the she was going to need his help in a few minutes.

He knew that time had come when the poor cat was gasping for air, trying to swim, unsuccessfully to land, and her head when under the waves.

Dog dived on after Tigress, brought her body up to the water’s surface and dragged it up to the sand. He didn’t know what to do. Should he try CRP (does that even work on cats?) or wait? Dog decided to thump the cat’s back with his paws, which seemed to work, because the she coughed and sputtered, and seemed to come back to life.

 Dog noticed a shining blue collar that seemed to be camouflaging when Tigress was in the water, because he didn’t notice it before. She has a collar, he thought. This is a house cat. The cat once again glared at Dog with her fierce tiger-like eyes. “I didn’t need the help of a dog. I could have taken care of myself”

“Yes, yes, your welcome, I know I’m so brilliantly awesome for just saving your life.”  The cat rolled her glowing eyes and muttered, “Dogs” then turned to leave.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Dog started to follow “I just saved your life, and you leave without even a thank you? I want to know why you were drowning. Tigers are supposed to be good at swimming. You cats are all the same: selfish, independent, bossy, proud-” Tigress whipped around, cutting him off with her electrocuting emerald eyes.

“You think we’re all the same? We are definitely not all the same. Sure, we’re all independent, and hate dogs, but that’s what we learn as cats. You want to know why those cats back there didn’t even blink an eye as I drown? It’s because I have no honor. I can’t even catch salmon. All cats can catch fish, but not me. I almost died trying. I am the exact opposite of my name. We cats are not all the same. And I don’t’ need to be reminded of it by a dog”

She looked Dog up and down. “Especially not street mutts trying to do honorable things. You have no honor, dog. Now, from saving me, you took my honor, and I am what you where.”

“Now I must go. I can’t stay in a place where I am being constantly tormented and seem with no respect. I’m sorry that I was cold hearted towards you when you saved my life, but I was rather angry. Thank you, and goodbye” With that, Tigress headed off deeper into the forest, leaving a very stunned dog named Dog.

He decided, since Tigress took the forest as her new home, he should go to the city and see what the other town dogs thought about this change.

How is it that suddenly, I am a dog of honor and a cat that I just met is a cat of no honor? Honor never really mattered to Dog before. He didn’t’ have to worry about that when there was no one to impress, unless you count the trees and piles of dead leaves on the ground.

Now, he thought, I am to live in city as an honorable dog! Dog was so busy thinking about the future that he neglected to notice the present, or why he so much hated the city in the first place…

“There’s one!” A deep booming voice could be heard, and a second later, Dog was being muzzled and leashed, and shaking furiously, trying to rid of his captors. Nothing worked. These humans were trained professionals and they knew what they were doing.

After being tossed in a cage, thrown in a truck, and shoved in a pen, Dog sat quietly for a while. How could he have been so unaware!? Now he was locked up and was once again a dog with no honor. ‘You have no honor, dog’ he could just hear Tigress saying that. Of course. He was a dog, and dogs had no honor. Even when they had tried to bend the rules, it just backfired and Dog lost the little honor he had. Cats and dogs were different. There was no Cat Pound, only a Dog Pound. You didn’t go and take your cat out on a walk, leashing them up and running around. Dogs were much crazier and cats were more independent, he thought.  

Still, Tigress and I, we both have no honor, out of homes, and suffering. We both once had honor and now, we’ve lost it. So how different are we really?

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So this was another thing from school. I wrote this last year, so it might not be the best thing, but it's still good. It's just a short story about honor and stereotypes. Hope you enjoy. 

-Caroline XD