BY THE FIRE

By Jo
EnyaJo@aol.com

TRIO CHALLENGE: a fireplace, a shoe, cherries
WORD: sentient
Once again, I hope Julie doesn't mind... can't leave that cat alone <g>

~~~~~

Luis sat in front of the fireplace warming his feet as they rested upon an ottoman on an unusually chilling evening in Santa Helena. His sentient cat, Cleo, sasheyed closer to her master and rubbed up against one of his shoes that was lying just to his left on the floor. Luis put his hand down from the arm of the chair to wait for Cleo's companionship. After a few beats of watching cat looking at his hand, Luis said, "It is I, Cleopatra. The one who makes sure you have food, milk, love. Come."

Cleo meowed at him and moved closer, but still away from Luis' reach. "Why are you so hesitant? It is me."

Then he noticed them. His fingers were red from having been popping cherries in his mouth and extracting the pits for the last hour, and as he looked at them, he realized that from her eyes, the stains could very well have been blood. "Well, it is only cherries," he smoothly commented. He took one by the stem from the bowl in his lap and held it down to her level. When she didn't take to it, he put it in his own mouth and savored the flavor. "It is your loss, Cleo."

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