An Adventure on Four Paws
Glenealy School , Thakker , Tvisha – 10
T his adventure all started one sunny day . Annchi lazed on a stack of hay bales . After a while , she got up eager for food . She had to eat to gather the strength to carry those kittens in her tummy . It was tough , but Annchi was a determined Siamese cat . Just then the door to the dusty barn opened and a little girl came in giggling . She was about 6 years old . She stroked the soft fur of the Siamese cat . She was excited about the expected arrival of the kittens . Annchi let out a soft purr which made the little girl giggle again . The farmer ’ s wife came in with a fresh bowl of water and the little girl put out some fresh food with the help of her mom .
Annchi helped herself . Soon Puyi , the dog was sent to the fields for the afternoon . The farmer ’ s wife came back with the little girl to let the triplets , ( Annchi and her two sisters ) out to stretch their legs and play . She usually ran around the crops like a cheetah chasing her sisters and pouncing on them . But she knew she was carrying kittens and she was a sensible cat , so she sat on a bench near a corner of the farm and watched the farmer gathering the crops . The farmer , his family and their pets all thought that life in Shensi village on Shengshan island was wonderful . The village was on the other side of the river from Hangzhou bay in Shanghai , China .
Suddenly Puyi jumped up and down barking , he was jealous of the attention Annchi was getting . He somehow jumped over the fence and headed straight for the cats . Mei-yin was the first of the triplets to react . She was always alert . Her ears were so sensitive that she could hear the farmer coming to watch the sunrise . Mayleen was the second of them to react . Knowing how alert her sister was she followed Mei-yen and ran alongside her . Although Annchi stayed calm on the bench for she knew if anything happened the farmer would be there .
Meanwhile the little girl and her mom were busy trying to stop Puyi from chasing the cats . Suddenly Puyi made a sharp turn and headed straight for Annchi . Annchi knew she had to escape and she leaped off the bench and ran through the crops . It was a bad decision . Instead of running to the barn she ended up at the main entrance of the farm . She had no choice but to leap over the gate . Annchi heard the little girl crying behind her . While she was sad , Annchi knew that she could find her way back home again . Somehow Puyi also found his way out of the gate and Annchi knew she had to run further away than she would have liked to . She had made it to a river . She spotted a trader ’ s boat sailing in the river and jumped in it . She slipped under a sack so the trader couldn ’ t see her . Puyi couldn ’ t spot Annchi so like a clever , jealous dog he found his way back home .
A little while later , Annchi wriggled out from underneath the sack . The boat was docked at Hangzhou bay in a place that looked simply marvellous . She didn ' t know where she was , so she carefully got out of the boat and looked around . Soon , she realised how hungry she was and looking for food , she wandered into Shanghai city . Happily she stumbled upon a local fish market . The smell of fish made her even more hungry and she knew that kittens in her tummy were dependant on her to survive . Annchi knew that the shopkeepers would not just give her a fish meal , so she was forced to steal one . She crept up to one of the stalls and nipped at a salmon . Quickly , she grabbed it and fled to a nearby shadowy lane to eat her prize . With her hunger satisfied , Annchi noticed that the sun was just going down . She had to find a place to settle down for the night . The shadowy lane had quite a few cozy corners and Annich made herself comfortable in one of those and fell sound asleep .
The following morning she woke up surprised at where she was . The memories from the previous evening flashed back and she realised that she had to survive for now and eventually find her way back home . Over the next week she got used to surviving in the city . Then one day she began to limp with a tummy ache . Soon the magic happened …. Annchi ’ s kittens were born ! The only difficulty now was to survive in the city with them as well . But