Friday, November 3, 2023

Retro Friendsgiving [FICTION]

Sadie growled under her breath, earning a startled look from Mittens. Until this moment, Mittens had been ignoring her human’s sounds of frustration by grooming her already smooth, shiny coat. But when her human stole feline sounds of distress, the regal tabby took action. She leaped onto the desk and plopped herself down on Sadie’s keyboard.

“No, baby, mama needs to send out these invites, or no one will make it to Friendsgiving,” she lifted the cat up and placed her back on the cushioned throne next to her desk. “I just need this site to work properly.”


Before Sadie could sit down again, Mittens leaped back onto the keyboard, purring loudly. Her feet connected with a sequence of keys. Her tail swished dangerously behind her. The computer monitor flickered and went black.


“No, Mittens! No!” Sadie cried in exasperation before dramatically sitting down, folding her arms, and burying her face in the crook of her elbows.


Mittens rubbed her human’s head gently with her own before prancing across the desk to a pile of skinny card boxes. The top of the stack was covered in a fine layer of dust. She pawed through them until one with watercolor pumpkins surfaced and then meowed insistently. When Sadie finally raised her head, Mittens swatted the box with her paw.


“What do you have there?” She picked up the box and tapped it to her chin. “I guess you aren’t in as much trouble as I thought.”


Moments later, Sadie sat back down at her desk. Ignoring the blank screen, she picked up a pen and began writing out invites the old-fashioned way. As she penned her name on the last one and began flexing her now weary hand, Mittens returned to the desk. This time, she deftly held a book of stamps in her mouth.


“Good girl. My friends are going to love our retro Friendsgiving.”


Mittens purred agreement as she rubbed her head on Sadie’s arm. “And so are you. Aren’t you?”


As Sadie devolved into baby talk, Mittens showed her tail and returned gracefully to her cushioned throne for a hard-earned nap. 


“Well,” Sadie declared in mock annoyance as she grabbed her invites and headed for the mailbox.


~


A week later, the group texts rolled in:


Joan: Got your card. How retro.


Marcie: I love it.


Alice: Count me in.


Jan: I’ll bring the pie.


Sami: I’ll bring a lockbox for our phones!


Lauren: Retro Friendsgiving this year!


Sadie: Shouldn’t you be sending me these RSVPs by mail to be truly retro?


Jan: Who has time for that? I have a pie to make.





~~


Sorry so short, but I think I may still be sad about October being over. Or it could be the bug one of my children seems to have shared with me for Halloween. Hoping it doesn’t linger as long as last year’s trick because that one plagued me into December. Anyway, I am hard at work for National Novel Writing Month, so feel free to send treats, encouragement, or magical creatures to clean my house.

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