Seth the cat sauntered his way to the puddle of water that lay bright under a Chicago streetlight.  He had experienced the unpleasantness of water; a master of his, immature and arrogant, had recently thrown him five feet across his backyard and into a kiddie pool.  He was terrified at the thought of not being able to stand on his own four paws, but luckily the pool was only half full so he was able to plod through this nightmare of all cats, leap across the lawn and run into the alley in a split second.  How can any master do that to their own cat?  he thought as he instinctively licked himself clean of garden hose water.  He felt a pang of jealously as he saw the family dog having the time of his life splashing and barking with excitement in the very same pool.  Seth sat and watched as the oblivious animal had fun in such a situation that, to Seth, was so disturbing. 

                The day of the kiddie pool fiasco passed, and night arrived.  Seth was about to roam the streets with is cat friends.  The fact that most of them didn’t have masters like he did didn’t bother him.  His former years of living on the streets took away any arrogance he might have had.  All Seth had to do to have one of his masters open the door to the backyard was weave through his or her legs, meow, and purr affectionately.  This always worked like a charm, but that night his family was busy.  The kids were running all over screaming as they threw Nerf balls at each other.  The parents were busy running after their running children, trying to bring peace to the large suburban house.  The window was soon opened by the mother so that a subtle amount of peace filled the kitchen. 

                Seth, enthralled, leapt as cats did about three feet up to the sill of the window.  He then jumped to the porch without looking back to the chaotic house.  He and his cat friends always met at the corner alley.  He didn’t know them by name, but by the sound of their purring and meowing, and the appearance of their coats.  The atmosphere of the night was just what a cat wanted: not too hot, not too cold.  His fur and the temperature made him very comfortable, unlike some of those hot summer days when his choice place of leisure was limited to the shadow of the oak tree in the backyard, or under the porch during the icy days of winter, where his paws were safe from salt. 

                Three of his buddies showed up: the orange haired one with a white tail, the black one with bright green eyes that widened before a mouse chase, and the grey overweight one that was the most domesticated cat Seth had ever known.  The grey cat lived for these nights, when he could leave his gourmet food and feather bed behind and just lose it all.  They had their path down, partly because it was the same one they had taken for the past year or so.  They had met one night through their lonely cries that echoed from garbage can to garbage can, garage door to garage door.  Also, scents guided them where to go; places to turn or to avoid.  Their carefree nights were only threatened by a dog.  This was when caution was necessary.  Seth had only come into contact with an unleashed dog once, and it was even scarier than his kiddie pool experience. 

                The day Seth came into contact with the unleashed dog started like any other.  He had just finished his first meal of the day, Kibbles and Bits and some milk.  After stretching his body before the doorway, he meowed, pawed at the door, and brushed against his master’s leg.  Just as he began to briskly walk down the sidewalk, he saw her.  A bulldog that had somehow escaped from her master, running full speed towards Seth.  The bulldog’s leash lugged across the sidewalk like a second tail as she ran.  Seth sprinted as fast as he could.  He couldn’t think or reason because he was so scared, so he just ran straight down the street.  Seth’s tags made a jingling sound as he rushed past some children playing catch in a front yard.  “ABBY, STOP!” the dog’s master pleaded.

                The only obstacle that came in Seth’s way while running was a large fanned sprinkler that stretched across the entire front yard and sidewalk of a house.  Seth considered just dodging through it to gain some ground, but his feline instinct told him to avoid the water, so he scurried into the street, almost knocking over a bike rider.  Abby had no such fear, so she leaped in the air over the sprinkler.  Her entire body lunged through the water, but she jumped through it so fast that her fur was barely wet when she reached dry sidewalk. 

                Finally the street had turned into a dead end with a wire linked fence that Seth was able to jump over.  When Seth reached the very top of the fence, he looked back, just for a moment, to see Abby’s master finally catch up to her and leash her.  The other day Seth had seen the same dog, became terrified, and weaved through a fence into a backyard, where he sat and watched through the fence’s wooden boards until the dog was out of sight. 

                Coming into contact with an unleashed dog was extremely rare.  When Seth was with his friends, he felt safe.  They often walked through the alleys side by side, meowing and keeping an eye out for anything that met their path.  Seth and his fellow cats were always alert for dogs on leashes walking with their masters.  Sometimes they couldn’t avoid being seen by these dogs and they had to dart across a street or a lawn as fast as a panther, and in response the dogs barked wildly and pulled their leashes almost to the point where the dogs’ masters were being walked instead.  After any such experience, Seth and his friends’ hearts beat wildly as they realized they had just escaped danger.  Once they regained their calm, they always continued their night’s journey with a trot, one that demonstrated an understanding of life on the streets.  That night they only needed to elude one such dog, and after the encounter they ran into an alley and pranced over some gravel as their tails swayed gently.  Seth walked up to the puddle that was radiant under a streetlight.  He drank some water and caught up with his friends.  They were eager to find their next adventure together.