Here she stood today in defiance of her teacher to find out more about this concrete jungle. Yesterday’s vista was still quite clear in her mind and although it did not frighten her she did feel a little intimidated by the surroundings. Already there were a few cats moving about looking at her suspiciously as if they expected her to harm them in some way. They walked with a funny sideways leaning gait. A lot of times rubbing themselves off on weird objects, it took her a while to realize that they were doing exactly the same as she used to do with trees when marking her territory. This is interesting she thought.
As she moved on she saw others of her kind but these she knew instinctively were ferocious she could sense her muscles going rigid and alert as her nostrils filled with their smell. Nobody had to come and tell her that she had to be wary of this clan she already knew by her inborn instincts. She felt relieved to regain her confidence in her instinctual behavior; she had always relied on this natural talent when she was in her own habitat, it kept her safe and also got her food every day. This new jungle was at times confusing for her, she did not rely on her own instincts to feed herself and that is why at times had to go to sleep hungry. But those were rare days like when it rained a lot or she heard something had happened outside the park and there was no movement at all. Nevertheless it was a reassuring factor for her to realize she had not totally lost her gift.
Suddenly she could smell raw mouth watering meat, she couldn’t tell the kind but she knew it would be great to taste so she started sniffing for the direction it was coming from. As soon as she spotted it right across the street, she saw a kitten that in her opinion had recently left her mothers care, crossing towards her being hit by a big fast moving object. It moved on two round items, it seemed that those were cut out portions of a tree trunk but they definitely looked a little bit different. The kitten must have died she thought so she moved ahead towards the smell and finally found it a bit further down the lane. It felt like ambrosia after those left over tidbits she had been eating for the past few months. She had her fill of the fresh meat and moved on to check out the other myriad of smells her nostrils could pick on every second. She saw colorful flowers, a place packed with different skins, another one filled with so many big and small objects, overflowing with colors she never saw before.
She stood looking at all these wonders, thinking why the teacher had asked her not to venture out in this new jungle. To her innocent unused eyes this looked like a wonderful new home, adorned with colors she had not known existed and objects that looked from another world. Venturing on she stumbled across many leafless trees and moving and rolling boulders of different colors. She took note of these things, so she can ask the teacher what they really were.
As it closed towards evening she thought of returning to the park, but realized that she has somehow lost the track. As panic struck she started running in the direction she thought she had come from and suddenly stood right in front of a big black dog. Instinctively she knew the best would be to climb the nearest tree and hide in the branches. No sooner did she do so, she became aware that all along the path the trunks she had thought as trees were not really the trees she was used to; apart from not having branches they also had a surface her claws could not hold on to; in desperation she climbed to the top and felt safe. She knew the dog cannot reach her, but similarly she didn’t know how she will get down.
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