Lucky the Kitten

LUCKY the KITTEN

CHILDREN'S STORIES

Lucky was born an only child. Kittens usually have several brothers and sisters, so a single kitten is very strange indeed. He lived with his mother in Mrs. Okotas house. Mrs. Okota was a widow with no children of her own. She was very happy when Lucky was born and she is the one who named him Lucky.

 

Lucky was very playful. Kittens are always playful, but Lucky was more playful than all the kittens you have ever seen. Lucky had so much space to run around in the big house that he spent all day, everyday, chasing himself from one end of the room to another. At the end of the day he would be so tired, he would curl up beside his mother and fall fast asleep. But all that was before he learned to speak.

 

When he started speaking, his mother would give him instructions on how to be careful as he ran around the house. Mother kitten would tell him of the dangers in the world like the huge dog outside the grill of the wooden kitchen door. She said the dog could eat him eat him if he was not careful. This amused Lucky because, he had never seen the world and everything he knew was right inside the house. It was hard for him to imagine what his mother said was dangerous. He really had never seen what his mother was talking about. "Grown ups are funny" he thought "they expect you to believe without seeing".

 

Soon, Lucky began getting restless, and wanted to do more than chase himself around the house. He wanted to see the world mother was always talking about. When he asked his mother "can I go and see the world now?" his mother would say "no Lucky, only when you get bigger" . "But I am bigger" he would say.  His mother would then say "no you are not".

 

One day when Mrs. Kiti came over to visit. Mrs. Okota called Lucky to come and say hello to Mrs. Kiti. Lucky mewed and mewed all the right words to which Mrs. Kiti said "how you've grown up you are, you are now a big cat!" "Yes," said "Mrs. Okota "he is much bigger now". At that, Lucky pricked up his ears. Mrs. Okota had said that he was "bigger!!!".

 

Latter that day Lucky could not stop thinking about what Mrs. Okota had said. If he was "bigger", why was his mother still refusing him go and see the world?". Without telling his mother he decided to find the world himself. One day, in the afternoon, while his mother was sleeping, he slipped through the open front door and into the garden of green grass. "Wow" he said as he looked at an explosion of colour. He had never seen so many colours and flowers in his whole life. This must be the world he thought. Then just as the door started to swing back he raced back into the house. That evening, when mother told him of the dangers in the world, he just smiled to himself. He had been to the world, and it didn't seem so dangerous. To his mother's surprise, he started snoring right in the middle of her sentence. "How rude" she thought. Then she said to herself  "maybe he is just tired"

 

The next day Lucky stayed indoors but, he just sat around lazily. His mother asked him "are you not going to play today. "Later" he said. That night he pretended to go to bed early. But when Mrs. Okota had put her supper in the oven and gone to take a short knap, lucky slipped into the kitchen. The kitchen door was slightly open and the grill frame was firmly in place. He went over to the grill and looked outside. Suddenly he heard a growl and pulled back from the grill. There on the other side of the grill stood Simba, Mrs. Okotas dog. Lucky took courage and asked "are you a dog?" Simba growled back. "If you are a dog" said Lucky "can really eat me?"  Simba growled louder "if you eat me" asked lucky "will I die?" Simba began to bark until Mrs. Okota woke up. Lucky quickly ran back to his bed and pretended to be asleep. When Mrs. Okota arrived in the kitchen she said "thank you Simba for waking me up, if I had slept one more minute my supper would have been burned.

 

Lucky tossed and turned throughout the night. He had found the world and he had found the dog. He couldn't understand why mother was so afraid of the world and the dog. He enjoyed the world so much that he wanted to go there again. He decided that if he could solve the problem of the dog, he could enjoy the world as much as he liked. That evening, his mother told him about a naughty kitten, who used to climb trees. At that point, Lucky asked his mother "what are trees mother?"  "O don't worry" said his mother "you will find out when you are bigger." "but mother, I am bigger". "No your are not, but you can see them just outside if you look through the door in the day time.  They are like tall poles which sway in the wind". Wow" said Lucky "you mean the naughty kitten was climbing one of those?" "of course" said his mother "don't you know that all cats can climb trees" "really?" asked Lucky "Yes" said his mother "all cats can climb trees, without being taught by anybody". Lucky could not believe his luck at being born a cat.

 

Lucky was anxious to try out his skill at climbing trees, but he couldn't tell mother. One day when Mrs. Okota went to hang the clothes, Lucky slipped out of the door again and ran straight to what he thought was tree. Sure enough he began to climb, and climb, until he could look down at the kitchen door. It was a great view, but he got down quickly before it got dark. He raced back home and played cheerfully near his mother. As they were going to bed that night he asked his mother sleepily "tell me mother, can dogs climb trees?" "What, Dogs?!" said his mother "those good for nothing animals can't climb a staircase, let alone a tree!" goodnight mother". "Good night Lucky" said his mother. That night Lucky planned one last escape. After he had solved the problem of the dog, he would come back and tell his mother their was no need to be afraid of the world anymore. There was just one more small problem. He did not know enough about the dark.

 

A few days later, just before evening, Lucky slipped out again and climbed the tree and waited. When it started getting dark, Luckys mother started looking for him in the bedroom, the living room and finally in the kitchen. When she could not find him she tried to tell Mrs. Okota. Mrs. Okota just stroked the cat and went outside to get the clothes before it got dark.

 

When she came back Luckys mother was waiting in the kitchen. She tried to explain that Lucky was missing but, Mrs. Okota just could not understand what was the matter. Finally, she said to Luckys mother "wait here while I feed Simba and let him loose for the night". Meanwhile Lucky was up in the tree watching what was going on at the kitchen door.

 

When Simba had eaten his food, he went round the garden and made his regular security check. Suddenly he picked up the scent of a cat in a tree and started barking up the tree. Lucky was just out of reach. Simba kept barking. Luckys mother came to the kitchen door and called out. "Lucky, what are you doing out there!" "Its all right mother, dogs can't climb trees".  By this time Simba was barking wildly and Lucky had to climb higher into the tree. When Mrs. Okota came to find out why Simba was making such a fuss, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Lucky stuck up in the branches. "O dear" she said "how are we going to get Lucky down. I cant climb trees and it is so dark!" Mrs. Okota was not a brave woman but, she went into her house, got a torch and went as fast as she could to get the neighbors son to climb the tree and rescue Lucky.

 

Simba continued barking wildly. Lucky was now just a little frightened, but he climbed higher into the tree to find a place to hide. His mother called out to him to hold on, help was on the way.

 

In a nearby tree, an Owl was awakened by Simbas barking and said to himself. "I wonder what all the noise is about". He looked over to the dog and up into the tree to see what the dog was barking about. When he saw Lucky, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What" he thought "I must be still dreaming, how can my supper be hanging on a tree?" The Owl rubbed his eyes and said wake up Owl its night time, then looked again. To his amazement supper was still there, high up in the tree. Owl swooped down and picked up Lucky in his sharp claws, let out a "toot, toot" and flew away with his supper.

 

The neighbors son never found Lucky. Mrs. Okota never found out what happened, but gave Simba a beating with an old newspaper. She thought Simba might have eaten Lucky. Lucky's mother had told Lucky about dogs, but had not told him about Owls.

 

Allan Bukusi 2007