A 2019 Young Writers Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention

An old, gray dog was striding along a dusty road in the middle of a field. He was wondering about whether or not the old lady who lived down the road would give him some of her food. It was at that moment when he was thinking about that question, that a cat jumped down from a broken down car on the side of the trail. The cat’s short hair was all black except for a brown line that went from under its chin to the tip of its tail.

“Hi, cat,” said the dog.

“Hello, dog,” the cat whispered, hardly turning its head.

The cat sat down and looked into a pond near the road. The pond was surrounded with flowers and underneath the surface of the water were tadpoles, frogs, and fish.

“What have you been doing lately?” the dog asked.

For a moment there was silence. The cat turned its head up to the sky. Its eyes were glinting and reflected the clouds in the air.

“A few years ago, the human with whom I lived went on a trip with me in a small hot air balloon. When we took off it was like seeing the world through the eyes of a bird. We saw great plains dotted with flowers, giant mountains covered in trees, huge oceans with rolling waves crashing against the shore. The noisiest places like the jungle and the sea were the most calming ones. Then one day, the human gave me a string. ‘When you find a place you like a lot, cut this and I will set you free there.’ It was the nicest thing a human had ever offered. A year later I cut it, and here I am.” There was a pause, "and what about you?”

Gabrielle G. is a 10 year old homeschooler who was born in the Netherlands. She moved to Austin when she was 7 and traveled all around the world for 2 years until she moved to California. She has a tabby cat, an Australian Shepherd, and fish. She likes to catch crayfish, read, look in tide pools, and do anything that has to do with sharks. (The eye patch is not a costume, but it’s only temporary.)