“We don’t need friends“ said Nera my big black overweight cat “I am all I need, If I go out I don’t need to go paw in paw with another cat. I find the way on my own.”
“I noticed Nera” I said “you cats seem to be loners. You don’t even seem to spend a lot of time with your sister Tabby, she always does her own thing and Fluffy does not even seem to exist.”
“Of course he exists, but he certainly does not need me or Tabby to stand by him. He can look after himself. Have you ever seen me or the other cats here get together and help another if we are attacked by a strange cat. No, either we run away or fight back, but on our own. We just do not need something you humans call friends. Our mums taught us to be independent, and we don’t even know who our dads were. So explain what a friend can do for a cat.”
“Well Nera, in that case I suppose it is just one of those differences between felines and humans. As far as I can reflect, I had friends. It all starts when you get old enough to think and talk. Your mother takes you to a playground or you go out in the street and there are other children. Somehow you start communicating. You play games together, you talk to each other, even have fights, but that is where it all starts. Growing up on the same street also gives a feeling of belonging. You all have the same background. Our playgrounds were the bombed sites from the second world war and that was where we had our adventures. We had something to share. We got older and went to school and perhaps some of the children on the street were still your friends at school. Eventually we all went our own way, split up and sent to different schools. Some remained, but perhaps they were not the best friends.”
“But Mrs. Human how can you separate best friends and just friends?”
“Nera I could ask you the same. How do you tell that a cat is a threat or a peaceful cat?”
“That’s the feeling you get Mrs. Human. If Mr. Grey one of the neighbour’s cats arrives in my territory it doesn’t bother me. We just sit side by side contemplating.”
“What do you contemplate Nera.”
“Don’t ask silly questions, Mrs. Human, we just contemplate. Now if Roschti arrives, the ginger tom from opposite, then it is a different thing. He is a threat. He has only stupid ideas in his feline brain and either you start a battle, or run away, depending who is standing on the stronger side. Him being bigger and stronger than me, I usually run away, or perhaps hide.”
“Well I suppose that is what we humans call avoiding people. If there is someone that isn’t particularly sympathetic we usually avoid being friendly with them.”
“How do you feel that they are sympathetic or not?” Nera asked
“Nera, that question you answered yourself just now. Why do you choose Mr. Grey as being no problem, and fight with Roschti? It is just intuition.”
“What’s intuition Mrs. Human?”
“Intuition is usually something we humans can’t explain very well and sometimes our intuition is not always the best. Just accept Nera, just accept.”
“Typical human.”
“You said something Nera? Anyhow to carry on with this friendship thing. As we humans get older we tend to learn a lot more and you find people that may have the same interests. This happened to me when I was in high school. Although I had many colleagues, I would not have called them all friends. A friend for me has to be someone that I can talk to, listen to and share common interests and know that I can rely on. Sometimes you might be lucky to find someone, which I did. Probably because our hobbies were similar and we could discuss our common interests, we just became good friends. As time went on we stayed in touch, I left home and got married, but we still visit each other from time to time and if we have problems then we help each other to solve them as far as we can. Of course through life I have met many people that I would call friend, but friendships are fragile and can sometimes break. It is just something that we humans have a feeling about. Each person is an individual and has its own character.”
“Well we cats have our own character as well, but that has to do with I, me and myself and the others just happen to be around. So you see, Mrs. Human, I suppose I am my best friend.”
“Yes Nera, that is one of the basic differences between cats and humans I suppose, but we are both happy in our own way.”
Writing Prompt #10: Friendship
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