THE FELINES: [INTRODUCTION] [PAL] BIG MIN [MINIMIN] [FLUFFY] [CHECKERS] LINKCONNETION [ A CATS PLEA ]

OPEN LETTER FROM CHECKERS Yes, We're small but we see you coming. Quickly we scamper off to get away from the noise. Cars are pretty big and bright. At night especially, we're not happy to be around them. We sure love the summertime too. Time to get out and chase the moths, and earwigs, spiders and mice and other cats too. It's time to blend in with my surroundings. Look... the grass hides me good today. I see you. My name is Checkers, and I live in that house right there. From time to time, you know what I like to do? I like to run up to the front door where I live, and sit and meow. One of my humans comes over and talks to me all jumbled, then opens the door. I meow again and turn and run. Sometimes they come and play with me but most of the time they just shake their head and laugh. I know they laugh because I stick my head around the corner of the house to see if they are gonna play chase or not? Sometimes they give me treats and pat me soft, or shake my tail... sometimes a hug and a kiss too! I love that. And then off I go again. I do that from 7PM to about 11PM. To midnight sometimes. Back and forth - back and forth. Then I come in for a snack and watch the news. Well, I don't really watch the news, they watch the news. I get brushed. I love that! Last Saturday night, August 22nd, it didn't turn out that way for me though. It was a great day, but I'm kinda scared outside in the daytime. My humans were out for a while, but when they came home.... BINGO! Out I went! Back and forth. Back and forth. I don't live just with humans. I have two other cats to play with all the time. And neighbour cats too. I sure am lucky. It was a quiet night and another cat friend from the neighbourhood was over to play too. He invited me over to his place, but I never been across the street before. Oh well... lets go then, "but I have to be in by midnight", I told him. He said. "OK". I'm a big girl now. Just turned one year old a week ago. Well across the road I went and played. It was fun. But I was nervous. I never been over there before. We chase moths alot. It was fun. Anyway, it started to get late... close to 11:30, so I figured, I better go home and see if my humans want to play chase with me tonight. I ran across the street and a really fast car was coming. I never saw one so fast before. I didn't even know what to do. He came flying right over the top of me. I thought about it for a while, after he passed me. And you know what? I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything. So I waited a bit, but the car never stopped. The human never parked his car and came up to me. He left me there. Right in the road! I couldn't even yell for my human friends, because I didn't have the capability to make a sound anymore. I tried to and tried to, but couldn't do it. Then, in like a minute or two, one of my human friends came to the door and called me. "Checkers-Checkers". Thats what I heard. I wanted to answer, but like I told you already, I could not make a sound or move. Lucky for me, she saw me in the road. I didn't see her, because I had bad injuries and my eyes were not working good now, but I knew she was there. I could hear her. She touched me, and petted me. I love that. Then she called for my other human friend to come out. He came really fast too. I was so glad they came to see me, because I was getting really nervous out there alone like that. I'm not sure what happened then. I heard someone crying... crying alot and the sound of the crying just faded away, till I couldn't hear it anymore. I tried to listen, but it didn't help. Someone picked me up and put me in a box to carry me off the street. That's the last thing I remember. I'm glad I have human friends that love me. Tomorrow, I don't think I'm gonna go out and play though. I think i'll take it easy for a while. Ya know... rest for a bit. My humans will take care of me now. They love me... and I love that.