Cat and Possum Haiku

“I will follow you,”
says the possum to the cat.
“We are Night’s playmates.”

Cat and Possum

Cat met Possum on a full moon. It was raining hard and Cat darted towards a hole in an Oak tree in Central Park. That's where she met Possum nose to nose, his white bristled hair matted down like an oversized wet alley rat.  They stood like that for several minutes, neither wanting to leave the shelter of the tree.  When the rain stopped, cat slowly backed out, and she began futily licking the water off her fur, one eye on possum.

Possum, fully amused by cat's wet look, waddled out from the tree. 

Cat stretched out her front paws, giving Possum a look of boredom.  She turned with a swoosh of her tail and sauntered down the path, moonlight spotlighting her every move. And just like that, Possum fell in love. With a cat. 

It was several days before he saw cat again, and this time a sliver of a moon was covered mostly with clouds. He didn't see Cat until she was next to him.

"I need your help, Possum."

"Anything you ask, Cat."

She turned, gray tail batting Possum's whiskers, and ran down the pathway. Possum, slightly out of shape, huffed behind her.

"Hurry! She meowed.

She didn't stop running until they came to a large bush. Possum screeched to a halt when he saw what was inside. Kittens! He'd never seen so many in one place. All of them meowing at the same time. All needing him. For what? How could he help?

Cat laid down, and the kittens clamored on top of each other to get the best spot for nursing. Cat looked imploringly at Possum. And that was the night he became a dad. 

Falling in love was much easier, he decided.