I Was An Alien Cat Toy Read Online Free PDF Page B

well-placed yowls and carefully doled out acts of apparent affection. Shefting shit, he’d even
    learned about it in school—why the human colonists had brought some animals with them which had no
    economic or nutritional importance. Humans needed the emotional rewards of grooming, of caring, and while
    children and friends could fulfil that to a certain extent, pets offered so much in that way to their human
    carers that it overrode their relative uselessness as food animals. These cat people must have the same basic
    urges—and if Temin wanted to make his lot more comfortable, he would have to ‘train’ his owner just as cats
    and dogs had done Terrans for thousands of years.
    So he’d just discovered that touch was appreciated—maybe he could try that head-rubbing thing the
    cat people went in for. Tentatively he bent and rubbed his forehead along the furred arm, and the purr got a
    little louder, the petting a little more enthusiastic. He started to suppress a grin, then wondered why he was
    bothering—if by some miracle they ever worked out what his facial expressions meant, they still wouldn’t
    realise he was attempting to manipulate them. He was just a dumb animal to them.
    He let the male pet him for a little bit, but then sat up and stretched—no point in letting the guy think
    that Temin was easy, after all. The male let him go immediately, unusually respectful of his wishes, then got
    to his feet, removing the food and dishes to a side room Temin couldn’t see into. The male—Temin thought
    he should really start to name these creatures to keep them straight—returning with a cleaning leather,
    kneeling and taking Temin’s hands carefully to wipe them, then his face. This, Temin was used to, because
    these cat people were as fastidious as their little Terran cousins—only they liked water too, unfortunately,
    and had given him several unwelcome freezing cold baths to satisfy their need for hygiene.
    But none of them had been this gentle before, and Temin found it soothing. The male—Temin
    decided he would call him Xexe, after a large cat his aunt had owned when he was small—wiped his own
    face and muzzle, then returned the cloth to wherever he’d got it. Temin stretched out on the cushion—leather
    too, but soft and supple against his skin, such a pleasure after stone floors—and thought that this wasn’t so
    bad, compared to how it had been and how much worse it could be. Things might be taking a turn for the
    better, at last.
    ~~~~~~~~
    Gredar chuckled to himself as he cleaned the dishes—his new pet was far better behaved than his
    mother had led him to believe, and quite a delight. Jopas could be such noisy, unsettled creatures, but this one
    sat nicely and made small but charming sounds—one could call it well-mannered in fact. He wondered if the
    trouble his mother had had with it was more than a little down to the carelessness of the younger kits like
    Buhi, and a simple misunderstanding of how to put the animal at its ease. Kirin’s nakedness was a challenge
    —the poor thing had to be cold all the time. However could it have survived in the wild? Perhaps it had been
    taken as a pet as a youngster, and had never lived outdoors for long. He also wondered how old it was—it
    was likely to be an adult, but it was such an oddity, nothing about it could be taken for granted.
    He would have to make some sketches—already he could imagine the decorations on a set of dishes.
    Perhaps a gift for his mother on her birthday. Yes, that would be the very thing. It was several moonsweeps
    away, and even with the next gathering not long in coming, he would have time. He might take Kirin with
    him to the gathering—it would cause a sensation once the other clans got a look at him.
    He heard the door opening and then an angry screech from his pet—he hastily went out into the room
    and found Filwui crouching in front of Kirin while the jopa cringed back against the table leg. “Leave him
    be,