The Mighty Hunter

                                            MIGHTY HUNTER



         Rudy was a six weeks old kitten when he came to our house.  He would fit in a teacup then.  But he had a curiosity that was big enough for a mountain lion. 

         Rudy liked to watch birds, but being an indoor cat, he always did it through a screen or a pane of glass.  The birds knew he was shut in the house. They paid him no mind but he switched his tail and made growling sounds as they flew by his window.  Like all his kind he had the instincts of a hunter, but with a dish always full of Meow Mix he really didn't want to catch and eat a bird.

         Then, as happens to all indoor cats sooner or later, Rudy saw an open door and made his escape.  He roamed away from the house and found himself exploring new territory.  In his exploration he discovered a new kind of bird.

         There were a lot of them, small and fuzzy.  Curious more than predatory, he closed in for another look. 

         And then something hit him.  It was big and loud with a squawking sound that struck terror into the kitten.  The mother hen stuck out her feathers until she was twice her size and flapping and squawking she chased Rudy back to the house where he climbed a porch post and sat trembling, his tail a bottle brush.  The hen went back to her brood and Rudy had to be helped down from his high perch. 

         He learned a few things that day.  One was that inside the house is better than outside, and another was to stay away from chickens.