Katarina Makes a Friend

Katarina the Cat was lying on the woman's bed enjoying the wonderful sunshine that came through the window.

Katarina was home all by herself, just the way she liked it. After her nap she would nibble on some food and after that, another nap. She stretched her tan paws out and yawned then turned around to get a better place in the sun.

Soon Katarina heard the sounds of the woman coming home and her nap was over. With a long yawn and a stretch she walked to the edge of the bed and sat waiting for the woman to come into the room.

The woman came into the room carrying a box just like the one she used to take Katarina to the doctor, the one she called a carrier.

"Katarina, I have a surprise for you!" the woman sang.

Katarina yawned and looked at the new carrier.

"That's not a surprise," Katarina thought. "A new pillow to nap on would be a real surprise."

The woman placed the carrier on the bed and opened the door. Katarina turned her head to look, but didn't show much interest.

"Meeooow!" Katarina screeched when she saw what was inside the carrier.

It was a dog!

Not a very big dog, but it was still a dog.

Was the woman crazy, out of her mind? Why would she bring such a creature into the house?

"Look, Katarina," the woman said happily, "I brought you a new friend."

"Friend?" Katarina thought. "I'm a cat, I can't be friends with a dog!"

"This is Dennis," the woman said. "He's a Labrador Retriever."

Katarina arched her back and growled at the fuzzy black puppy. Dennis scampered out of the carrier and licked Katarina's face, she growled again and swatted him across the nose.

Dennis looked surprised but still his tail wagged and he licked her again. Katarina swatted him again.

"Leave me alone," she said. "I hate you."

Then she jumped off the bed and crawled beneath it.

The next day Dennis was still there and Katarina was not happy.

She went into the other room to see Pauly the Parrot. Pauly had been in the house for many years, he would know what to do.

When Pauly saw Katarina's face he knew right away that something was wrong.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"There's a dog in the house," she said. "And he wants to be friends."

"I see," the wise old parrot said. "You don't want to be friends with a dog?"

"Of course not," Katarina said. "I hate dogs."

"Why do you hate dogs?" Pauly asked her.

Katarina looked at the parrot as he swung on his perch.

She did not know the answer; she only knew that when she was a kitten she was taught that dogs were bad news.

"I don't know why, Pauly, just because."

"Just because," Pauly said. "Just because why?"

"Pauly, I don't know why. I just know that I hate dogs," Katarina told him.

Really, she thought Pauly was much smarter than this. She was beginning to think that he wasn't very bright at all if he didn't hate dogs.

"Well, Katarina, let me ask you a question," Pauly said.

Katarina sat down and listened.

"Do you remember when you first came here," he asked.

"Of course I remember," Katarina said. "Why do you ask?"

"What did you think of me?" Pauly asked her.

"I wanted to be your friend, but you were mean to me."

"That's right," Pauly said. "I was afraid of you because I thought that all cats ate birds, and I did not wish to be eaten."

"But I didn't want to eat you, Pauly." Katarina said. "I thought you were beautiful and wanted to be your friend."

Pauly smiled at her.

"Yes, but I didn't know that," Pauly said, "and I was much too afraid to ask, so whenever you came near my cage I would squawk at you and peck at you with my beak."

Katarina remembered swatting Dennis on the nose the day before and felt badly.

"You didn't understand why I wouldn't be your friend, did you?" Pauly asked her.

"No, I didn't. It made me very sad. I just wanted a friend."

"You were sad because I wouldn't be your friend, isn't that so?"

Katarina remembered how she had told Dennis that she hated him. This made her feel even worse than she had before.

"It took a long time for us to become friends, didn't it?" Pauly asked.

"Yes," Katarina said. "Very long, I didn't like that at all."

"Why not?" Pauly asked.

"Because I was just a kitten, and I didn't have any friends," Katarina said. "I was lonely."

Katarina thought about Dennis. He was only a puppy, and he didn't have any friends either. He was probably lonely too.

"I have one more question for you," Pauly said.

"Your questions are making me very sad, Pauly." Katarina said.

"Maybe this one won't," he told her.

"OK," Katarina said. "What is it?"

"How did you feel when we finally became friends?" Pauly asked.

Katarina smiled widely and sat up straight and tall.

"That was the happiest day of my life," she said. "I didn't think you would ever like me."

"It's a very nice feeling to have a friend, isn't it?" Pauly asked.

"Oh yes," Katarina purred, "it's the best feeling in the world."

"No, Katarina," Pauly said, "there is one feeling that is better than having a friend."

"There is?" Katarina asked. "What could be better than having a friend?"

Pauly winked one of his small eyes at her and smiled.

"Being a friend to someone else," he said.

Then the parrot closed his eyes for a nap.

Katarina sat watching her friend sleep for a minute before she stood and walked to the bedroom. Dennis was lying on his pillow napping. When Katarina came into the room Dennis opened his eyes. Katarina looked into the big brown eyes and noticed that they were very sad, and that made her sad.

She walked to the edge of the pillow and took a deep breath.

"Would you still like to be friends?" she asked.

In an instant Dennis was jumping up and down, wagging his tail and licking Katarina from head to toe. Katarina smiled from ear to ear when she saw how excited Dennis was.

She heard Pauly whistling a song from the other room and she thought to herself...

"Pauly was right, it is much better being a friend to someone else."

The End.