The Herd and the Fire

the house was on fire. Out of the 21 cats that were in the house, 16 survived,

including all of the Herd and one from upstairs. The Herd decided to tell the

Smokey, Gizmo, Simone, Cuddles and Little Bit, whose lives were lost in the tragic blaze. :-(

Hazy Mist: After everything calmed down, Mom told us that she was so worried

pictures but it looks like they might not have come out. Come out of what?

Chester: It was awful that night! There we were, just doing our kitty things

when the man from upstairs came down in a panic. We could feel his fear and we were

Shades: Mom was already gone to do that work thing and we wanted her so bad!

Daddy Mark was there, though but he hurried up those stairs we all were curious about with

that man who lived up there. They wouldn't ever let us go up there. We were left all alone. :-(

something that was just awful from there. Mom says that that little human had a lot of toys

and that we were smelling them melt. They were yelling up there and that had happened

Hazy: I'm back and I was nice, Shades. With the bad smells, pretty soon we

could hear Smokey (from upstairs) screaming! We were soooo scared!! What could make a

cat scream like that? Poor Smokey! :-( That sounded bad! We heard Daddy Mark tell the other

human kitties to get out of there but we couldn't go anywhere! All the doors were closed!

Demi: All I wanted was for Mom to come home! Daddy Mark was the last to come

down. He came running through and opened the door to that room under us. They never used to

let us go there so we stayed in our usual rooms. We all went to find hiding places, especially when

we heard more screaming but that was from outside. Mom says that was sirens.

Shakey: I was in Mom's bedroom and it was soooo noisy! There was a big roaring

sound from over our heads! We could hear stuff falling and then there was a big boom. Mom said

Beau: When the sirens stopped, there was still a lot of noise. There were strange men

everywhere running around with these huge snakes. The worst was, the snakes had water in them!

Whiskers: When the strange men had those snakes and started using them, it started

raining in the house!!! We all hid, then! It took a long, long time for the noise to die down. We didn't

know what happened to the kitties upstairs then. Finally though, we could hear Mom outside yelling

Cimmaron: Yeah, it was so good to hear her voice in all of that craziness! Those mean

men wouldn't let her come get us, though. They told her not to expect for any of us to be alive and that

she'd have to wait until it was safe to come in! I could hear how worried she was! :-(

Sundown: What I want to know is, if it wasn't safe for her, why was it safe for us? It

was raining in the house. It was hot and the smell was terrible! We couldn't wait for Mom to come

in and get us!!! I don't think she cared if it was safe for her or not because she wouldn't leave the

Misty: Those strange men also came into our part of the house. When they did, the

smell got worse. They put these big sheet things on Mom's computer and Daddy Mark's big TV.

Then, if having strangers in the house wasn't bad enough, they let those snake things throw water

all over our part of the house, too! I was in Mom's bedroom with Shakey but when I saw them

coming, I got under what Mom calls a cedar chest. I think it helped because there was a big crash

Gabby: Mom said that the ceiling fell in in the bedroom 'cause the fire was right

above it. Those two silly twits actually stayed there, too! I hid under Mom's favorite place to sit

and Chester got under there with me. It was nice to have him around, this time! Those men started

throwing water in our living room, too! The nerve! Nobody wanted to come out of hiding then,

Fresca: Finally they let Mom come inside and the first thing she did was call us. We

were too scared to go to her by then, though. There were four of five of those strange men with her

Kitana: We heard her call out sounding really happy when she said, "Missy!!! Oh

baby, I'm so glad you're alive!!!" Who's Missy? She's not one of us! Mom sounded really happy

to see her, so I guess it's OK. We were all hoping she'd get to us after the big men left.

Sundown: We heard Mom put this Missy person in one of our cages and tell those

guys that there were more carriers downstairs. One man asked her if she really thought they'd

need them. That made me mad!! We were right there! It made Mom mad, too. Her voice got that

really hard sound to it that Image used to like and the men didn't say anything else. They just went

when those guys started tipping the furniture back but when they did, we saw Mom! We were

Fresca: I wanted to go to Mom so bad but wanted to get away from the men. They

didn't let me go, though. I know she didn't want to but Mom had to get a little bit rough with

some of us. When anyone tried to run, if she was fast anough, Mom would get us by the scruffs

Bruno: Mom said she had to be fast because if the ceiling fell in in the bedroom, the

living room ceiling might also fall while they were inside getting us. She didn't want to be rough

Lucky: I couldn't help myself when one of the men grabbed me before Mom could. I

had to fight! He got me anyway and when he handed me to Mom, I felt so much better! She couldn't

keep holding me because there were still more kitties to get. She did hold me close for a minute and

Shakey: I was like Lucky. I had to fight. The men were funny, though. There I was,

kicking and trying to get away when all of a sudden, there was Mom asking for me. The man

actually asked her if she needed gloves! Hehehehe! As if I'd scratch Mom! :-) She told them "no"

and I was soon in her arms. It felt so good to be cuddled by Mom, I just snuggled up to her chest

Misty: When almost everyone was gone, I could hear Mom still calling for Beau,

Cimmaron and me. I finally heard her say," Beau!!! Baby, I'm so glad I found you!!" Then she

told the men that were left that Beau was her 18 year old. Like they needed to know that! They

said that they had to leave then and I knew it was OK to tell Mom where I was. When she came

back to the bedroom, she called Cimmaron and me again. This time, I answered. She answered

me back in my meow!!! I heard her get under that big sheet thing and there was a bright light

and Mom!! I was still scared but she lifted that heavy chest right off of me and soon I was being

cages out to this thing they call a van. Grandma took us over to Aunt Jenina's house while Mom

was still looking for Cimmaron. We were still scared but glad to be alive and we were all good for

Cimmaron: You know, humans aren't always all that bright (no offense, dear

friends). Mom and Dad both looked in the kitchen cabinets and even with those bright light

things. They still didn't find me! I was just sitting in the crock pot (If that's what they call it,

they were right. It was a crock!)! Even Dad left after a while! Mom was still there looking and

looking. Finally, she looked in my cabinet and made me come out! I was sooo glad to see her!

She took me to her car, put me in her lap and put this strap thing around both of us. I was so

happy to see her, I couldn't stop telling her about it or purring, either!! She took me over to

Gabby: You Noodlehead! Dad didn't want to leave us! He wanted to come in to

look for us, too! Because the house was his, he had to stay outside and deal with all of those

people!! He was just as worried about us. He had a lot more to do than Mom did, though.

Kitana: Mom didn't want to leave us that night and neither did Dad. They had to

find a place to sleep though and get some clothes for themselves. Why humans don't grow fur is

beyond me but since they want to wear clothes, they had to get some. She came to see us almost

every day, though. Dad came every chance he got. It was always good to love on them! :-)

Chester: We thought we'd never get the smell out of our fur, so maybe clothing isn't

such a bad idea! We missed having Mom & Dad around all of the time but Aunt Jenina was good

to us. She gave us a lot of love to make up for when Mom and Dad couldn't be there. When Aunt

Jenina moved out of here, Mom and Dad moved in! We feel so much better, now!

Beau, Whiskers, Fresca, Gabby, Chester, Bruno, Shades, Hazy Mist, Lucky Stripes,