Cocoa, a.k.a. Ms. Cocoa Puff

On Friday April 4, at 6:45 a.m., I ran out the backdoor into our yard, as usual, with my brother and sisters.  We have so much fun out there!  And because I'm much more timid than my siblings, I usually stay right in our own yard, and I come inside every half hour or so.

But on Friday, for some reason, I decided to follow my sister Tootsie, who is the bravest of us all.  She told me that if I came with her we would have such an adventure!

Well - we ran through the backyards of three or four houses next to ours, and then we turned left toward the street, and we saw an open garage door.  Tootsie said we should go inside and explore, and like a fool, I went in there with her.

We did have fun in there.  But then some People came into the garage.  Tootsie and I both hid behind some boxes and waited to see what would happen.  The People got into their car and backed out of the garage, which wasn't too surprising to us, because our own People - Pat and Henry - do that all the time.  But then, the garage door shut! And we were stuck in there!

It wasn't so bad at first because Tootsie was with me and we took our time exploring.  But more and more time passed and we started getting hungry and thirsty and we didn't even have a litter box in there. 

After a few hours I heard Pat calling us.  But there was no way we could let her know where we were.

More hours passed and then - the garage door opened! And the People drove in, in their car!

Tootsie knew what to do: I wonder if she's been in this kind of trouble before??  Anyway, she jumped out of our hiding place and went running out the garage door! and the people said, "oh look a cat she must have been trapped in here all day!" but it never seemed to occur to them that maybe Tootsie wasn't the only cat trapped in their garage!

And then . . .the People shut the garage door and went inside their house and now I was in this garage ALL ALONE without even Tootsie for company and then it was night time!  And I was hungry and thirsty, and usually at night I sleep on the bed with Pat and Henry so I was lonely and frightened.

All I could do was wait and wait and then it was daytime again - Saturday now - and I heard Pat and Henry outside: they were calling me, "Cocoa!  Co - co - co - co - COcoa!"  So I meowed as loud as I could, but I guess no one heard me, because no one came, and I could only wait, and then it was night again . . .

And then it was day again - Sunday - and I hoped the People in this house were churchgoers because then they would come into the garage to get into their car and open the door - but they didn't!

And I heard Pat and Henry calling me again.  More than that - I heard them come walking up the driveway!  And then I heard a "clink" - (later I found out that they put a picture of me in the mailbox, with a message that said I was lost, and would everyone PLEASE check their garages and sheds in case I was shut in accidentally - )



And it worked!

Because then The People came and opened the garage door and this time I knew what to do and I RAN out as fast as I could and The People said "Oh there she is that's the cat in the picture that's Cocoa ..."

but I was running so fast I didn't hear anymore I ran across the backyards even right through the muddy patches I usually go around so that my beautiful golden-peachy-colored fur won't get dirty

and I jumped up on the deck right by the door and I could see through the glass Pat was standing right by the door! she was talking on the phone and I could tell by her voice that she was so sad

so I opened my mouth and MEOWED as LOUD as I could and then Pat dropped the phone and she SCREAMED and she opened the door and she grabbed me and kissed me and called my name over and over but then I had to get down because I was so HUNGRY and so THIRSTY

and as I was eating Hershey and Taffy and Tootsie came running and they all stood around me sniffing my fur which smelled as if I had been in a garage for over two days (which I had been - as Tootsie must have known, right?) and I was SO glad to be home

and now it's over a week later and I'm STILL so glad to be home and I'm going to stay close to the deck from now on and not listen to Tootsie any more!

THE END

copyright by COCOA PUFF