Today's #flashfiction To Yearn For A Name

 “I make sure to keep abreast of things.”

Dolly Parton* #quote

CJ might come over tomorrow. Or he might come over yesterday if I run into some sort of time anomaly. You never know what you'll run into.

To Yearn For A Name

          Everyday they feed that other cat. They called her Violet. I never got it. Why name someone that when they're white? But still I envied her. The people in the home feed her, and give her warmth while they shoo me away. I spend my days snatching pigeons. I thing I wanted most was a name. Give it to me. I grew up with no people. Give me identity.

           After surviving my first winter so far all I've gotten while wandering through the whole city was “that damn stray”. Eventually some people caught me in a net and took me to a place crowded with many other animals. The scents overwhelmed me. A few months in I overheard someone saying,

        “He's already about a year old at least, if someone doesn't adopt him soon, he might not have much chance of being adopted at all. People don't like older animals.”

          Later than that an old man walked in. He smelled like fish and wood. Like one of the humans I lived next to for a few days that were working on their house. Maybe he did something with wood too?

          “I like this one, good nice black coat. If he doesn't scratch me I think I'll adopt him.” The old man then picked me up. It was uncomfortable. I wanted to claw at him. Bad. He grabbed me rough and I wanted to send him a message. I really didn't quite understand what most of humans said. I can stay here as long as I want right? Nothing bad happens if I take awhile to get “adopted” here? Before I decided to claw the old man he then said next, “I'll call you Atticus.”

          A name. I felt like someone more than I ever did in my entire life before. I purred in the old man's arms.