by Naomi S. Inting

Flufy the dog hated cats. 

He hated cats more than anything. More than the fact that his poop was always super hard. More than the fact that ALL his teachers were strict. More than his annoying sister. There was no doubt about it. He HATED cats. 

He hated cats because his mean neighbor was a cat named Scruffy. He was a tabby cat and he loved to challenge Flufy to jumping contests in which Scruffy always won. And then sometimes he would call Flufy mean things like “Stinky” just to make him angry.

One day in the park, he met another cat. She had brown fur and red eyes. Just looking at her made him want to chase her away. She looked soooo annoying because she looked like she had a few mean tricks up her sleeve, just like Scruffy. She looked more annoying than his sister and Scruffy combined.

“Oh no! It looks like rain!” the cat cried as soon as she spotted him, even if it was sunny. “I’d better finish this pest off quick if there’s going to be a storm!” She pretended to pounce at him.

Then Flufy got angry because this cat seemed to be teasing him by pretending to pick a fight with him. “I’ll tell my parents!” 

But the cat wasn’t fooled. “You don’t have parents. I pass by the orphanage every day on the way to school, and sometimes I see you going in and out.” The orphanage was a little old house where orphaned dogs were cared for by the caretaker, a kind old dog whom everybody called Mom. This was where Flufy lived with his sister Dafnie.

Flufy wanted to shout, “That’s not true! I work there!” But the cat knew the truth because she had seen him calling the caretaker “Mom”.

“By the way, my name is Charlene, Cherry for short.” Then the cat whacked him on the head with her tail. 

And then Flufy fainted. The impact was so strong that he couldn’t help it. 

He woke up in bed, with his sister Dafnie, a dog who looked just like him– white with brown eyes– slapping his face, paws, butt, and tail. Apparently, Mom had brought him there after finding him unconscious in the park.

“Stop it,” he mumbled when his growl returned. But she didn’t stop until their Mom returned from the grocery store. 

“That’s enough please, Dafnie,” Mom said. “It’s time for bed. And Flufy, you’ve been asleep since morning. Stay up as much as you want tonight.” Then she turned off the lights and went out. And so Flufy spent the night playing video games, one of his favorite things to do.

The next day, Mom sent Flufy on an errand to buy some groceries and he ran into Charlene AGAIN at the park. She was just hanging about.

“What!?!?!?!” he barked. 

Charlene giggled. She had secretly been waiting for him. “It seems you were following me, huh?” she meowed. 

Flufy’s fur reddened, but he didn’t say anything. 

Suddenly it started raining. Charlene ran away. Flufy chased her through the rain.

He felt scared because of how dark it was getting, but kept going. Frogs jumped at him from everywhere. The mist hung all around him as he tried to follow Charlene. And because of that, he almost lost his way. 

Charlene went into an old shed. Flufy peeped inside. IT WAS FULL OF CATS! Big cats. Small cats. Orange cats. White cats. Thin cats. Fat cats. Flufy continued to snoop around the shed a little before heading back to the orphanage.

“That was CRAZY!” Flufy groaned when he arrived at the orphanage–a little old house rented by Mom. “I don’t want to see that many cats again!”

“What happened?” Dafnie called out. “You’re white as a sheet!” They hugged. A hug never felt so good. He yawned, and told Dafnie the day’s happenings. 

“Wow, you are so brave!” Dafnie cried, “I can’t believe they didn’t notice you.” Then they went to bed.

The next day, he found out that he was transferring to another school. He had already been going to a school nearby which was a tall, white building where other dogs went. It was an all-dogs school. But he stumbled upon an application form on the floor of the corridor outside his bedroom and it had his name on it.

He got interested. It piqued his interest. “What does that mean?” he asked himself.

The answer didn’t come to him. Dafnie was going there, too, it seemed, because there was a second form with her name on it. “Why?” he asked himself. “Do I have to do something new?” He didn’t like doing new things. “I like my life as it is. So WHY?” he thought. 

He thought about it the rest of the day. He asked Mom about it but she seemed to avoid giving him details. To go to sleep, he focused on the present and how he was feeling, and forgot all about the day ahead. The next day, he woke up quite early and thought, “It must be way too early for school”. 

Just then, Dafnie shouted, “Get UUUP!” And “LET’S GOOOO!” she yelled. Flufy jumped out of bed and prepared his school things. And so they left for school. They took a bus and got off at the school gates. Flufy didn’t like going somewhere new.

He thought the sun was actually shaking. He trudged through the new school’s gates. It looked like his old school, only much taller. He looked at the other pups and kittens. “How lucky they are to be so excited right now!” he thought. He looked from one furry face to the other. Then Flufy stopped short. He saw a familiar face. 

“No,” he said to himself, “I must be seeing things.” 

But the face said “Then I’ll bang on your head so you’ll forget ALL about this.” But Flufy was one step ahead of Charlene. He had already fainted.

About the Author. Naomi S. Inting loves to read stories about fantasy, mystery, and comedy. At 9 years old, she’s lived with four cats throughout her life: Boxer, Liger, Duday, and Shiro. She likes cats because they are cute and furry, and can jump really high. While she’s never lived with a dog, she likes chihuahuas because they’re small, loud, and have dark beady eyes. In her spare time, she enjoys playing piano, reading, drawing, watching anime, and practicing karate. She dreams of being a zookeeper who helps with restoring endangered species and reintroducing them into the wild. “No More CATS!” is her first published story.