Once upon a time, there lived in the world a Cat named Kitty the Cat, nicknamed Short Tail. In reality, her tail was not only of quite normal, average length but also extraordinarily fluffy and additionally of amazing color.
Being by nature of her breed a three-colored cat of light pale tonality, Kitty had the same three-colored tail, which was painted along its length – alongside white were silvery and pale stripes, and they whimsically twisted around the tail like an elongated serpent, and the very tip was adorned with a charming snowy tuft.
In general, in some places, Kitty could easily pass for a supermodel, but unfortunately, in the yard where she lived, it was terribly fashionable to have a short tail and smooth fur. Historically, local cats were not particularly pedigreed, and all of them were born with short tails. Therefore, the local beauties decided among themselves that a short smooth tail was a sign of beauty and tried in their youth to sit on their tails as much as possible so that they wouldn’t grow too long. It even led to absurd situations.
One unfortunate cat whose tail was growing remarkably fast decided that it wouldn’t grow so quickly if she dipped it in a cold puddle. Late in the autumn, she would come to a large puddle and dip her tail into it. It was very cold for the poor thing, but she so wanted her tail not to grow too long that she was ready to sit by the puddle for days on end, fortunately, she did not have a particularly choleric temperament.
One of these fine evenings, she became so consumed by thinking about her future short tail that she didn’t notice herself falling asleep. Unfortunately, the first frost struck that night, and in the morning, it turned out that her tail was firmly stuck in the ice. Of course, the little cat managed to get out and didn’t even get sick, she just sneezed a lot for a couple of days in the warm basement. But since then, she had resigned herself to her not too short tail and no longer made any rash decisions regarding her appearance.
Kitty was quite different. She never strained herself just to fit some standards. She would sit on the windowsill of the ground floor apartment, where she looked after a small human family, stretching out her luxurious tail along the window, watching what was happening outside, and glancing at the whimsical spiral and the white “pompon.” So, where did she get this strange nickname from – Short Tail?
Young Kitty was convinced that her atypical appearance was even interesting. It’s amusing to be different. “And anyway, the world is beautiful because we’re all so different,” Kitty thought as a kitten. But then came the moment when she was finally let out into the yard. Kitty proudly jumped off the window onto the ground and went “catting around.” “Meow,” she said cheerfully to a small gray cat named Pusha. Pusha looked at Kitty, at her tail, and, sympathetically purring, replied, “Poor thing”…
At first, Kitty didn’t understand why she had to be considered a poor thing. But when her new acquaintances again and again looked at her, then at her tail, and sympathetically purred, and some even looked away, Kitty was genuinely frightened. Not that no one wanted to be friends with her. For example, Push, who was older, immediately took Kitty under her patronage, showing her around the yard, the basement, the trees, warning about the dogs, leading her to the dumpster, and quite detailedly instructing her about the local cats.
Kitty was quite a kind and cheerful cat, so she always had company. When Push wasn’t available, Kitty was invited for walks by Red Beast with the funny name Petrovna and the Elegant Blonde, who was simply called by her last name – Gershwin. Time with her friends was fun for Kitty, but for some reason, the local feline community always avoided discussing love and cats in Kitty’s company. And Kitty became more and more interested in this topic.
At first, the local young toms seemed too curious and quarrelsome to her, so she didn’t try very hard to establish relationships. Although a couple of toms seemed funny and cheerful to her, but that was all. And her friend Pusha just turned up her nose and proudly raised her fashionable short tail.
But one quiet spring evening, sitting on the windowsill of her favorite window, Kitty looked at the silvery moon, whose light gently caressed the young leaves, and dreamed about something… It was difficult to say exactly what Kitty was dreaming about, but her little cat heart was filled with some kind of inexplicable tenderness.
“Oh, if only,” she suddenly thought, “I could fly.”
Kitty was even surprised by such an unexpected desire. She imagined herself rising into the air and flying after the birds, which she didn’t even feel like eating at that moment. She imagined herself flying to the moon and taking a bite out of it like a round of cheese… She reached her paw up toward where the soft light was coming from and touched the window glass. The moon seemed so close, but how could she take off?
And suddenly her lunar sufferings were interrupted in the most unexpected way: two bright lights darted from above in the darkness. Clearly, the owner of the two bright eyes leaped from a tree, and Kitty recognized him as the young cat Caspian, long and thin but quick and brave. Caspian dashed onto the moonlit patch in front of the entrance and loudly and sweetly called out, “Meow!” For some reason, hearing this “Meow!” turned everything inside Kitty upside down.
The moon slipped off the cloud it was floating in and fell into a puddle. The branches swayed and rustled, and bright spots of green eyes floated before her eyes. Something in Kitty’s heart jolted and ignited. And the tip of her tail quivered…
Kitty looked at the street singer and suddenly, to her surprise, saw – guess who? – her friend Push. Caspian gracefully and lightly approached Push, sniffed his whiskers, he nuzzled her ear, they said something tender to each other, and, embracing tails, lazily disappeared into the darkness.
The tender, sentimental Kitty was so shaken by what was happening that the next day, from early morning, she began searching for Pusha to hear the story. But there was no story to follow. Push looked frightened as Kitty pressed her for details, became embarrassed, and mumbled something like, “Well, it’s still too soon for you.”
“Early… Why is it early for me? I’m only three weeks younger than that conceited Pusha” Kitty was offended. And she decided that she would get to know some tomcat better herself to understand what attracted her friend to this tough guy. Kitty chose her acquaintance Bubba as the object of her investigation. Vaska was a cheerful cat who sometimes told Kitty fresh jokes when she wasn’t allowed outside. They would sit on the windowsill and laugh, and Vaska enjoyed entertaining her.
“Hi,” said Kitty.
“Hi, Kittsssy,” Bubba replied.
“Listen, maybe you don’t know, but suddenly you do… What were Push and Caspian doing together yesterday?”
“What do you mean?” Bubba stared at Kitty with yellow eyes.
“Well… I don’t know…”
“Ah…” and Bubba seemed to remember something and glanced quickly at Kitty’s tail. “Well, they… Well, they were just hanging out.”
“Let’s hang out together!”
“No, Kitsa-Mitsa, forgive me, but I… Well, I like someone else.”
“And what, am I not likable? At all?”
“Well, that’s… No, you’re good, funny, Kits, but… The girls asked me not to talk to you about this.”
“About what?”
“Well, in general, sorry, you’re good, so I’ll tell you, just don’t be upset. Well, your… tail is ugly.”
Kitty startled for a second, then sat directly on her ugly tail.
“Why is it ugly?”
“Well, look at it yourself: long, fluffy, and that silly pom-pom… No, wait, don’t be upset, maybe some guy likes something like that. Although, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone would… Oh, your whiskers trembled, do you want me to tell you new jokes? Kitsa-Mitsa. Well, Kits, where are you going…”
Kitty walked without paying attention to the road, swaying slightly… She couldn’t even immediately jump onto the ledge of her window. Returning to her beloved windowsill, she quietly sat down and stared sadly into the distance, not noticing that Bubba was standing under the window on the ground, trying to comfort her.
“She’s nice. I feel sorry for her. Maybe I should trim her tail… and dye it…” – thought the kind Bubba…
Kitty spent the whole evening by the window, without thinking, without dreaming. She didn’t even notice when the moon rose. All of Kitty’s being was filled with an oppressive feeling… She was scared. For the first time in her cat life, she was scared that because of this damn tail of hers, she would never, never find out what Push and Caspian murmured so sweetly about, what it was like to rub against someone’s whiskers and walk, embracing tails… Night fell. Kitty fell asleep for a short while.
She woke up because Bubba was standing under the window and yelling his lungs out.
“I got it! I got it! I know how to help you!”
“How?” asked the poor Kitty.
“First, we’ll trim it and dye it! Look, I brought these… see.”
Kitty stared at the huge tailor’s scissors.
“Bubba, can you… I mean… use them at all?”
Bubba looked at Kitty for a long time, clearly pondering something. And then sadly said,
“So. Haircut is out of the question. Well, at least we can dye it! I found a nice mud puddle for you! It will be dark, wet, and will look short and thin. And all one color!”
“Hooray! Hooray!” shouted Kitty!
And again the Moon started to play! And again she saw mustaches and entwined tails. Happiness is so possible! And they rushed to the puddle. Spring rains came up with a great paint reservoir for Kitty! At first, of course, it wasn’t very pleasant to get the clean little tail dirty in the mud. But Bubba amused himself and our Kitty so much that they both started rolling in the mud and shouting with joy, like children. Soon both of them became the same color of mud, which evenly covered their fur coats.
Kitty stretched her tail and looked at it.
“It’s gotten smaller! It really got smaller! Vaska! You’re such a genius!” – and from joy and gratitude, Kitty nuzzled Bubba’s cheek.
Bubba snorted strangely, meowed, and stepped back a little. Then he carefully examined Kitty’s new tail, circling her several times and assessing the picture from different angles, then lifted his muzzle joyfully and purred contentedly, and then suddenly looked Kitty in the eyes and said,
“You’re so beautiful! Even when dirty.”
The sky sparkled over Kitty with a thousand colorful stars! Suddenly all the birds started singing, Vaska, for some reason, rose above the ground and flew away. Or was it she who flew away. She couldn’t understand. When they landed, both dirty and wet, Kitty asked:
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing, I just said that you’re beautiful. Listen, Kitsy, now you’re not long-tailed anymore, but the very Kitty the Cat the Short Tail! Now there will be plenty of suitors!”
He thought for a moment, then added.
“And do you want to… Well… Go for a walk with me today? Well, my family is out of town and I’ am… you know, lonely and stuff”
Kitty was flying on her way home. A date! A date! She had a date! She had a Short Tail! She’s a beauty! Everything will work out for her! She’s real! A cat! Desired! Oh, poor Kitty! Happiness was short-lived…
We don’t know what would have happened if the dirty and thoroughly wet Kitty had appeared before her small human family… It didn’t happen… The spring sky didn’t even let her reach home. Gray clouds gathered over her head and burst into a sad spring rain…
Kitty came home as wet as ever, but there was almost no trace of gray mud left. The downpour washed away all her beauty. “It’s okay,” thought the inspired Kitty transformed, “it’s okay! I’m wet and seem smaller. And the tail seems just as short…” But her dream was not meant to come true.
Her humans called her home and didn’t let her out until late, carefully drying Kitty’s fur. She struggled and cried, shouted that they had broken her heart, but they didn’t hear her… Didn’t understand.
By nightfall, Kitty’s former fluffiness and color returned. Sobbing, the unhappy cat stared into the darkness of the night, waiting for her prince, hoping that he appreciated in her not only her tail but something else – her ability to fly…
Bubba jumped onto the window sill from the outside, meowing happily, but seeing Kitty, suddenly lowered his whiskers and said,
“You see… sorry… my humans came back early, it won’t work,” and disappeared into the darkness.
It’s hard to describe the little Kitty’s broken heart, she sat alone by the window again and cried bitterly.
“I’m nobody. I’m worthless. I’m not a cat. I’m a mistake. I’m a failed experiment. Why, why do I have such a tail. Why such a punishment for me! Why am I such a monster! Why was I born into this world! I’ll never, never be happy! Never! Because of this damn tail, I feel like I’m even genderless… I don’t feel like a cat. At all. I’m so awful… I’ll never, never be happy. Never fly under the moon. Never nuzzle someone’s whiskers, never walk, entwining tails… I’m so unhappy…”
Kitty’s time crowled slowly… She didn’t want to go outside at all… In the evenings and at nights, she watched as pairs of green lights met in the dark and muzzles touched each other and went in unknown directions, and then from afar came their songs, songs of love. Kitty was completely alone… Day after day, she first spent at her window, and then moved to a chair in the dark room, not even wanting to look at her beloved moon anymore.
“Why do I need the moon,” Kitty thought, “if I’ll never, never be happy?!”
So the days passed. Then weeks. Kitty seemed to have completely resigned herself to spending her whole life in a chair in the corner of a dark room, when suddenly one day they put her in a basket, covered her with a lid, and brought her to a place with a lot of noise…
She couldn’t peek at what was happening around, but when the noise subsided, and the lid was removed, Kitty saw something amazing. Everything around was green! Huge trees! Bright red clusters on bushes! She was brought to a small house that was not visible at first in the depths of the garden.
Kitty seemed to have never been sad; she immediately explored all the space, sniffed all the corners, found herself a comfortable chair, sat on it for a while, and then ran out into the street to give free rein to her paws and frolic in the green grass. Kitty’s longing vanished like magic!
She frolicked all day long, and when night came and a huge moon floated up into the sky, Kitty, as if enchanted, sat on a stump by the well and watched as dark bird silhouettes circled around that seemingly quite delicious yellow circle.
Everything around smelled so delicious and juicy, whispered and rustled. Kitty was dazed by the smells and sounds, half-drunk, she gazed at the moon and didn’t even notice at first how a shadow flickered past. The shadow carried two yellow lights. Kitty instinctively jumped to the ground and hissed. But upon closer inspection, she realized that there was nothing scary in the darkness except for someone like her. From the bushes emerged a slender black cat and approached Kitty.
“Meow,” he said softly.
His voice seemed surprisingly gentle and calm to our heroine.
“Meow,” she replied. “I’m Kitty Shor… Just Kitty.”
“Madam, you’re new here. I’ve never seen you before! I’m Micky. Sometimes called Micky the Mouse by some “funny” ones. But I like Micky.”
“How cute, can we be informal…” Kitty replied and was surprised at how refined this cat Micky was… Reading her furhter interest well, he continued.
“I don’t live here. We came from the city. There’s nowhere to walk there: tall buildings. And here there is so much freedom. I’ve been vacationing here for the second year already. But I’ve never seen such a beauty.”
“Oh, come on, I’m not beauty. You should see the Elegant Blonde,” answered the saddened Kitty, hiding the tip of her tail behind her back.
Micky stood up, circled around Kitty, who was carefully hiding her tail behind her back, returned, and said to her softly and calmly,
“Why are you hiding your beauty, Kitty? Only the most beautiful cat in the world could have such an exquisite tail!”
“He’s lying! He’s lying to me! Why is he mocking me!” thought the terrified Kitty.
But Cat Micky was not only refined but also a very smart cat. He approached Kitty closely, looked into her frightened, tear-filled eyes, and said,
“Dear Kitty! I hardly know you, but I’ve seen how you love life, how you rejoice in the moment, how you savor every minute. I enjoyed watching you when you looked at the moon and whispered your dreams of flying with her and someone else, someone who understands and accepts you.
Don’t be afraid of me, I’m not deceiving you. Believe me, dear Kitty, I may not be old, but I’m not a kitten either. I’ve seen different cats. Stupid and smart, beautiful and not so much, with short tails and long ones. I liked someone, and someone not… but seeing you, I realized that only an amazing cat can dream of flying around the moon.
And only an amazing cat can have such an amazing tail.” – And he nudged her cheek with his muzzle, and she timidly sniffed his whiskers. – “Madam, would you accompany me for a walk to the lake tonight?! I’ll show you the wonderful moonlit path!”
And his black tail curled around Kitty’s, and they walked side by side to the lake.
And there was night. And the night was magic. And there was a moonlit path. And small silvery bubbles in the water. And the caressing whisper of the leaves. And the exciting scent of grass. And a song about love.
And Kitty the Cat felt like it was a dream, that it couldn’t be happening. But it was happening. And when the moon was at its highest point, and cat Micky kissed Kitty for the first time, she suddenly felt like she was floating. And that her friend was floating with her. They flew around the moon and sang a wonderful song, the words of which were known only to them… No one else could understand.
And the Moon smelled of fresh cheese. And the birds around went crazy from the two amazing creatures who managed to overcome gravity of the Earth.
And when morning came, and Kitty freed herself from the tender paws of cat Micky to look into the black pupils of his amazing eyes, he said,
“Kitty the Cat… My beloved Kitty. I didn’t know I could fly. You didn’t just give me my love and Our Song, you gave me the Sky! Now you can see what an amazing cat you are. Kitty Cat, My Most Beloved Tail.”
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