THE CAT WHO CHANGED ALL

Based on a real event

Helen Taylor lay in her bed, thinking sad thoughts. She thought of Jerry, her dog. Sadly, he was hers no more.

"I'm sorry, Ginger, my dad doesn't approve him," she had told her friend, from whom she had gotten her beloved pet, "I think I might have to give him back!" and she did. It had been two weeks while Jerry had been away and Helen missed him badly.

"He`s too loud! He sheds his fur too much! He takes up too much space! He eats too much! We must give him away!" her father had complained. He did not like animals. Why? Helen had asked herself but she didn't have an answer.

* * *

Days came and went and suddenly the week was nearly over. Helen returned from school on Friday and started on her homework. She sat in the living room by the big desk near the window and wrote her work. This was her favorite place in the whole house. The large wooden desk had once been used by Helens father and father's father.

"What should I write?" Helen thought to herself, trying to think of an answer to the question in her book. She looked out of the window for inspiration. You see, the other best thing about this table was that it had been placed by the window, overlooking the garden. Helen watched the roses and tulips in every color sway in the light breeze. The huge oak tree in the middle of the garden was a home for many little birds. Helen could see them hopping on the branches. The garden was a beautiful place and Helen loved it.

Her mother was in the kitchen cooking some chicken for lunch.

"Helen, should I put some sauce on the chicken?" her mother called and her head appeared from the kitchen door.

A bit, Helen was about to say but she didn't. Something had caught her attention.

It was a cat. He was walking through the garden peacefully and looking right at the window. It all happened in a moment- the cat ran a bit, jumped on the window sill and squeezed through the crack in the window, which was there to let some fresh air into the room.

Helen gasped. The cat had long, ginger fur and dark, dark eyes. He looked at her for a second and then jumped off the table where she was writing.

What was the cat doing here? Helen wondered, is it the chicken smell or is the cat here for something else? I must find out!

And she followed the cat into the kitchen.

* * *

Once the ginger cat had eaten- Helen adored animals and so did her mom- they started thinking of a name for him and what to do with him.

"Gabe"-this was Helens dad "will not like Gary to stay here!" her mom said and combed a hand through the cat's fur.

"I know he won't, but look at the poor animal- he looks like he is not used to the wild and hasn't eaten for days!" Helen exclaimed. She so wanted to keep Gary since Jerry had been taken away.

"We`ll see what Gabe thinks we should do," Helens mother suggested and that's what they decided.

"What are we, an animal home? But only if he is quiet, won't leave a single hair on my carpets and won't leave any smallest trace behind him!" Helens dad agreed, when he got home work, but only because he saw how desperate Helen was to keep the homeless cat.

From that day, Helen had a new friend, Gary. She fed him, washed him, brushed him, stroked him and took care of him in every way. From that day, Gary started to live with the Taylor family. From that day, everything started to change.

* * *

A few weeks later, Saturday morning, Helen woke up really early because she heard someone shut the front door. She got out of bed and tip-toed to her mom's room. Mrs. Taylor was sleeping soundly, wrapped up in her big, white covers.

Next, Helen went to her dad`s room. The door was open to it and nobody was inside. Was her dad eating breakfast already? Did he go somewhere? That explained the shutting front door. Should Helen go back to bed? No, Helen felt wide awake. She was about to leave her dad`s room when she heard a faint meow! coming from the bed.

"Gary!" she exclaimed quietly, "I thought you slept downstairs! Did you creep up to dad`s bed after he left, you naughty cat?" and Helen stroked the cat`s thick fur. He looked at her with his big black eyes and then jumped of the bed and then down the stairs.

Helen`s dad returned later with a bag full of salmon.

"Dad, where were you? Why are you up so early!?" Helen was amazed.

"I bought these for Gary!" he said and laid the salmon out carefully on the table, "Gary, look what I have for you!" he said happily as Gary sniffed the fish.

Helen started to notice, that with Gary in the house, dad was changing for the better.

* * *

"There is a strange pain in my chest; I don't have a clue what it could be!" Mr. Taylor had complained to his wife. Helen was worried. She lay in her bed looking at the ceiling thinking about her dad. She fell asleep wondering if her dad was sick.

The next morning she got out of bed early. Her feet were hot from under the blankets and the floor felt ice cold. Helen stretched and then opened her shutters and looked out of the window. From it you could see the big garden her neighbors owned and a bit of the road. Now and then a car passed. Helens room was on the east side of the house and the sun was shining through the window.

She left her room and went into her mom`s room where her mom lay in her bed, unmoving, her hair spread across her pillow. Then Helen visited her dad. He slept peacefully. His hands were by his sides and he was on his back. Gary had curled up and slept on his chest.

* * *

Helen was at the hospital with her mom. They were in the waiting room when a nurse came and started talking.

"You see, the pain in his chest, it`s…" Helen tried to listen, she was interested, but she was thinking of something else. She tried to make sense of what had happened for the past couple of months. Dad starting to like cats, getting a pain in his chest and Gary sleeping on his chest. That didn't make sense. Maybe Gary had felt something… but it was all a puzzle to Helen.

"I'm so, so sorry, but I'm afraid…" the nurse was telling Mrs. Taylor who was listening carefully.

"No, no, no!" cried Helens mom once she understood. Tears rolled down the woman's face.

"Mom, what happened?" Helen asked, for she had not understood or listened at all.

"Your Daddy has passed away." The nurse told Helen as if she was a five-year-old, not a twelve-year-old. She said it with a touch of guilt, as if it had been her fault.

"I'm sorry…" she said. Helen hugged her mother and never wanted to let go. "Although, before he closed his eyes… he said something: `Take care of Gary`, he said and I think he spoke to you."

With that, the nurse left Helen and her mother sobbing in each other's hands.

* * *

They left the hospital and drove home in silence. It was an unbearable and miserable day for Helen. She thought of Gary. Will he understand? Poor cat won't have anyone to buy salmon for him every morning and nobody's chest to sleep on…

When Helen returned home with red eyes and damp cheeks from crying, she called and searched for Gary. She looked in her room, her dads room, the kitchen… she wanted to hug the little animal to feel better but he was nowhere to be found.

Helen only later found out what had happened to her little pet, for she realized that the living room window, yes the one that Gary had used to come in, was opened, wide enough only for a cat to use as an exit.

THE END