It Was the Cat - by Susan Giles

https://Voice.club - She is betrayed, in the end, by the cat.

Her spirit animal has always been a cat. Cats give her strength when those around ignore or taunt her. Their tendency to aloofness is not a detriment, but a point of pride which Caroline finds admirable. After all, their ancestors were worshiped in ancient Egypt.

Caroline is trying to imbue her own life with such assurance and poise. An above average student academically, she is now concentrating on her image on the soccer field.

The day of the big game is here. Sun sparkles like diamonds scattered on the soccer field, birds sing encouragement from tree and sky. Caroline is confident this is the day she will score, proving her value to the team. As if to confirm her thoughts, the neighborhood cat, Cassandra, who is curled up under the home bench, catches Caroline’s eye and slightly dips her head in agreement.

Dribbling down field, she adeptly dodges her opponents, dexterously determines a cross-pass to her teammates, then assists in a goal! The crowd roars wildly! Her Spirit Animal, Cassandra, purrs from the sideline

Final minutes. Score tied. Corner kick and Caroline is up.

From the sidelines, Cassandra stands, arches her back in a nonchalant stretch, then saunters onto the field, to stop and sit directly in the projected path between ball and goal.

Caroline draws back her right foot, confident that Cassandra will distract the goalie at the last minute. This is the time! Success will be theirs!

Cassandra looks up disdainfully, yawns, but as is well within the rights of an impervious imperial feline, does not deign to move.

Caroline performs a perfect kick, skillfully missing the cat, but also missing the goal.

In the end, she is betrayed by the cat.

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Hello, Susan. Even though the story is all about betrayal, I found it so cute, especially the cat picture.

An amusing well told story, Susan. Hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I think your title took away from the surprise of the cat preventing the goal. You well captured the essence of an aristocratic cat!

Betrayal isn’t always devastating, although it does seem so in the moment. Sometimes nature, in this case the cat, brings us back down to earth, and makes us reassess our goals.

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I hope I will always be open to suggestions which can improve my writing. Choosing a title is one of the more difficult parts of my writing, but in this case the title came before the development of the story. The line just came to me, and I challenged myself to write a story from the title. Some clues are more obvious than others; some readers are more astute!
Thanks for reading and commenting on my story.

I love that idea, Susan.