Chapter 1 Cheyenne

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE TWO KITTENS

PEEK-A BOO & THE PRINCESS CHEYENNE




Chapter 1

CHEYENNE

Even at birth Cheyenne was the most beautiful kitten ever seen. She had long silky fur that was pure white, and her eyes, the color of a copper pot, seemed almost too big for her face. No one had ever seen eyes that big on a kitten, and everyone who saw her instantly fell in love with her. Cheyenne’s nose was very small and flat against her face, which didn’t allow her to smell very well. People could hear her smelling things by the funny sound she made with her nose. “SSSSSnnnnffff SSSSSnnnnffff” she would sniff loudly. Everyone who heard her would say, “That is the cutest way for a kitten to smell”, and then they’d laugh.
Her mother and father were famous Persian cats, who traveled all around the world winning lots of prizes in cat shows. It was expected that the little kitten would follow in her parents’ foot steps.
“You are the most beautiful kitten I have ever seen,” said Mrs. Andrews, “and I’ll win lots of prizes with you.” Mrs. Andrews was a cat breeder, and she owned Cheyenne, and Cheyenne’s mother and father. “I know I will win,” thought Cheyenne. “That is why I get bathed with perfumes, have beautiful bows in my fur, and even have a collar with fancy stones on it. I am so beautiful.”

Unfortunately, as Cheyenne started to get older, the little princess had a slight problem. Cheyenne’s tear ducts (where tears come out) didn’t close properly. She always looked as if she were crying. It didn’t hurt her at all, but she had big brown streaks under her eyes. Her mommy and daddy cat loved her even with her dark streaks, and would lick her face constantly to clean her eyes.

“What are we going to do now? I have spent a great deal of time and money grooming Cheyenne to be the best in the show. We can’t show her at all, and the vet says her eye problem will never go away,” said Mrs. Andrews as she sat at the table and crying.
After a few minutes, she stopped crying, blew her nose, stood up and said, “Come on Jim, you know we can’t afford to keep her anymore. I was talking to Mrs. Smith down the street. I know their boys would love to have a kitten.”
“All right, all right, but I am really disappointed. I thought she was going to be a champion,” said Mr. Andrews. So Mrs. Andrews packed all of the kitten's toys, her favorite collar, shampoos and conditioners and took the beautiful kitten to the Smith's home. Cheyenne’s real mother and father understood what was happening and were sad to see her go, but little Cheyenne was all excited. This was going to be a new adventure and she couldn’t wait.

The first year of her life, Cheyenne’s little paws barely touched the ground. The Smith boys carried her like a baby almost everywhere. “She is sooooo cute, and fluffy and loveable, I think she’s a princess” said the youngest son. He said that so many times that the name stuck to her, and she became the Princess Cheyenne.
“I am the most beautiful, most loved kitty in the whole wide world,” Cheyenne thought as she looked in the mirror, licking her paws and cleaning her eyes.
“I think I’ll let everyone know how happy I am, purrrrrr purrrrrr purrrr.” Since she was happy most of the time, she purred most of the time. Soon she began to talk. Of course not in people talk, she spoke in kitty talk. “Meow, meow, bbbbbrrrrra, bbbbrrrraaa,” she would say while rubbing her head against their legs. “Meow, meow, aren’t I cute? Pick me up and give me some loving,” she would say. Now Cheyenne could easily have jumped into her owners’ laps, but she had gotten lazy. “Why should I jump, when I know they will pick me up and cuddle me,” she said, and she was right. The more she talked, the more people responded to her, so the more she talked.
Her life was easy and simple. She ate, slept, played and was loved. For her it was the perfect life.

In the springtime Cheyenne ate her breakfast of warm milk and cooked chicken, and then she would go out into the garden to chase bugs and butterflies. The butterflies were her friends; the bugs, she would bat with her paw and occasionally try to eat. “Yuck, you taste terrible.” “Well then, don’t bug us,” yelled the bugs running away toward the grass. “You bugs think you’re so funny, I wasn’t going to hurt you anyway. I am tired, I think I’m going to stretch out and take a nap. I love the spring, it is my favorite time of the year,” said the princess to no one in particular and then she promptly fell asleep.

In the fall, she would follow the boys outside, jumping in and out of the piles of leaves they raked, scattering them everywhere until the boys would yell at her to get away. “Come on Cheyenne, you’re makin’ a big mess, and I just raked there” they shouted at her. She jumped and played until she was tired and then curled up in the window watching them work, eventually falling asleep. Her last thought was, “I think my favorite time of the year is the fall.”

Cheyenne’s family lived where it snowed in wintertime, and the snow was the same color as Cheyenne, which helped her disappear when she went outside. She was never cold because her coat was now long and thick. Chy Chy, (the nickname the boys gave her) would hide in the deep snow, wait for one of the boys to walk past, and then pounce on their boots. “Here Chy Chy, catch this.” The youngest son threw snowballs and Cheyenne would chase them.

“Boys, Chy Chy, time to get out of the snow,” yelled their mother. “You two go upstairs and change into dry clothes. Cheyenne come let me dry you off and I’ll give you a saucer of warm milk, and cooked chicken.” The big soft towel felt wonderful, and the warm chicken tasted great. You know she thought, “winter is my favorite time of the year.”

The only frustrating part of her whole life was bath time. Mrs. Smith would take Cheyenne to a lady called a cat groomer to be bathed and brushed. Cheyenne hated the water, mostly because of the way it made her look. She was a very vain kitty. When it was time for the family to take her to the groomer, Cheyenne would run and hide under the sofa. “No, no I don’t want to go!” She would meow and run from one room to the other, until someone caught her and placed her in the carrier.
All the way to the groomer she would complain loudly, “Pleeeezzzz don’t take me there…pleeeeezzzzzz,” she would cry over and over. You see, when Cheyenne was all wet, she looked more like a very large furry rat, than a beautiful Persian cat, and the princess hated it. “I’m not beautiful when I’m wet” she thought. “In fact, I am down right ugly.”
She would meow and cry and cry and meow, complaining all the while she was being bathed. Susan, the young groomer, seemed to understand her irritation. She would talk in a very gentle soothing voice while bathing her. “It’s okay Princess Chy Chy, you’re going to be absolutely beautiful when we’re finished, and you’ll get to choose which color bow you’ll wear this week.” The groomer always tied a brightly colored bow on Cheyenne’s fur, and sprayed her with a kind of kitty perfume that smelled wonderful.

In the end, Cheyenne would prance back and forth looking in the mirror. She was even more beautiful than before, her streaks under her eyes were temporarily gone, and her long white fur was silky and flowing. The Smiths would pick her up from the groomer and oooohhhh and aaahhhh, hugging and kissing her, making the trauma of bath time all but forgotten until the next time.
“See you in two weeks,” said Susan, scratching Cheyenne under the chin. “Meow, meow, not if I can help it,” said the little white Persian.

There were other pets in the Smith household, although if you asked Cheyenne’s opinion, she was the most important pet in the family. There was an old gray cat named Gray Girl, and a huge female dog named Trinket. Gray Girl liked Cheyenne from the moment the princess arrived as a kitten, and “mothered” her as best she could. The old gray cat had never had kittens of her own, and this gave her the chance to be a mama cat. Cheyenne liked old Gray Girl and often curled up with her to sleep. “Come here Princess, I want to clean your face before we go to bed,” said Gray Girl. “Yes Gray Girl, here I come.”

The big dog loved both cats and wanted to play with them constantly, but the old cat had no patience for the dog, and would skulk away grumbling to herself. “You are a dog! You are not supposed to like cats! Hisssss Hissssss, go away Trinket, I have no energy for your nonsense.”
“I’ll play with you,” said the Princess as she pounced on Trinket’s back from the dining room chair. They would play for hours until the older dog became tired and went off to the sofa to sleep. “No more,” she growled at the kitten, “I’m tired.” But before Trinket put her head down to sleep, her enormous tongue would lick the little princess’s face, and Cheyenne would go away, but not very far, and not for very long.

The three pets lived happily together for several years. Then all of a sudden life changed. Trinket grew very old. She couldn’t move around well anymore and stopped playing with Cheyenne.
“What’s the matter with you, Trinket, why don’t you run and play with me anymore?” “Cheyenne stop tapping me on my nose, I am tired,” said the old dog. “Come on Trinket, let’s play. I’ll jump on the chair and then jump on your back,” Cheyenne said jumping all around the dog. “No little one, not today. Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Often Trinket would lie on the sofa for days at a time, and only get up to eat or go outside to the bathroom. On these days, Chy Chy would lie beside the big dog and try to cheer her up. “How are you today, Trinket? Do you feel any better? Do you feel like playing with me today? How come you never have any energy anymore? Maybe if I lick your face you will feel better.”
Cheyenne then climbed up on the sofa and licked the great dog’s face.

Then one day, Trinket didn’t move off the sofa at all, and the family knew Trinket had died.

Mr. Smith and the two boys buried Trinket in the backyard by the garden where they had all played together, while Mom, Cheyenne and Gray Girl stood close together and watched. It was a very, very sad day for everyone.
“I feel just awful. I miss Trinket. Can I sleep with you tonight Gray Girl?” said Cheyenne. “I miss Trinket too little one,” said the old grey cat snuggling with the little white princess as they fell asleep together.

Not to long after that, Gray Girl, who had grown quite old herself, passed away in her sleep, and the family buried her next to Trinket in the garden that they all loved. “I don’t have anyone to play with now, please play with me,” Cheyenne would say to the Smith boys, but the boys were getting a bit older, each having school work and after school activities, so they played with her less and less.
One particular day Mr. Smith came home from work very excited. “I got a promotion at work, and I’m making enough money so we can buy that house we liked a few miles from here.” Once they purchased the house everybody in the family but Cheyenne was excited and extremely busy.
“I don’t know what is going on around here, but I certainly don’t think I like it,” said the princess. There was much hustle and bustle as boxes were filled, and the family began packing up their things making ready for their move.

At first, it seemed fun to jump into the empty boxes. “Cheyenne get out of that box. I am trying to pack!” yelled the older son. "Hey, come look at the princess in the box. Isn't she cute?" said the youngest son.
“Has anyone seen Cheyenne?” said the mother, “I want to feed her and I can’t find her,” she said. “No mom we haven’t seen her all day,” yelled the boys.

Cheyenne thought she was playing, but the family was getting irritated with her constant hiding in the boxes as they tried to pack. So the little white Persian started to complain bitterly and loudly.
“I don’t like this change. Pay more attention to me!” she yelled. At nighttime she would roam from room to room and box to box yelling her dissatisfaction. “Hey, wake up everyone, pay attention to me, everyone, WAKE UP! I am lonely and bored,” she screamed with her loudest voice. The family would pick her up; pet her just to keep her quiet and happy. “Ah ha,” she purred loudly, “I am a Princess, I am beautiful, I am loved, and there is no one else around here to get all that attention and love, but me now.”
Finally after the chaos of the move, and everyone was more or less settling into their new home and new schools, the family focused much of their time and attention on Cheyenne. She became more spoiled and self-centered, and it remained that way until her eighth birthday.