By Dasha Young, TIWP Student

Two cats hopped off the train, almost invisible to the crowds of people during rush hour. They rushed out of the вокзал (train station) and onto the sidewalk, passing grandmas in scarves and dodging a ball someone hit too hard. Using their sixth sense, they were able to follow the sound of the crying girl, running down streets as fast as their tiny paws would let them. The cats found her and instantly realized that she must have gotten lost from her mother, so they laid down on her skirt to calm her down. Right on cue, they heard someone screaming, “Таничка!”, and hearing her name, the girl ran to her mother, who embraced her in her arms. She thanked the cats for keeping her daughter safe, and, seeing that their job was done, they hopped onto the fence and walked away down the streets of Odessa.

The two cats knew everyone in town, including the nice baker, Пётр. They came into his bread store, as if they owned the place, and sat down next to his counter, looking at him with begging eyes. He saw them and, after giving them as many pets as he could between orders, he finally brought in a small plate with milk in it. The cats gratefully licked the plate clean, and, with their stomachs full, they laid down on a shelf, almost indistinguishable from a piece of хлеб (bread). They stayed for some hours, charming the customers, but sensing that the store was going to close soon, they meowed as if to say bye to Пётр and left into the slowly darkening streets.

The cats walked through the dark streets, watching mothers put their children to sleep through the windows. The street lights turned on, but they didn’t need them to see where they were going. They jumped onto a rooftop to see the lights of the city more clearly and continued walking, jumping from rooftop to tree to fence. Finally, they came to their destination, marked by the tails and silhouettes of their friends. They shared stories of their day under the rooftop of a seafood restaurant, where they had dinner earlier that night. But, as it started to rain, they huddled up into a pile of fur and fell asleep to wake up to a new day.