The first walk.

When getting something you want is difficult, it’s always easier to give yourself excuses to not get or do it.

“It’s too expensive.”

“It’d be troublesome.”

“It’s too far.”

“It’s not realistic.”

“I don’t really need it.”

When the means are there, people usually go for it without a second thought, but when something is difficult, we tell ourselves that it’s better to just let it be, and maybe most of the time it is. The real problem is when you finally admit to yourself that you truly want it.

“It’s expensive, so I better start saving money.”

“It’d be troublesome, but I’ll find a way to make it work.”

“It’s far, so I better get myself ready for the trip.”

“Why is it not realistic? What can I do to make it happen?”

“I don’t need it, but I want it anyway.”

Putting in the work to get something you want is always harder than telling yourself it’s better to not have it. So if there’s something you want from the bottom of your heart, could you work for it?

That was exactly the situation I found myself in, and you know very well what I’m talking about. However, my deep thoughts were interrupted by a cat jumping and landing squarely on my stomach as I rested on my bed that afternoon. If not for how light Cake was (and the fact my abs are a lot harder than they used to be) that would’ve startled me more.

“What do you want?” I asked her.

She meowed back in that high pitched tone of hers.

“You already ate.”

She meowed.

“Want to play?”

She meowed and jumped off, walking to the door and looking back at me.

“It’s only at times like these that I think reading your mind wouldn’t be that bad…” I sighed and stood up to follow Cake.

She walked with quick steps and her tail high up. She led me down the stairs, looking back every other moment to make sure I was following. Eventually, she stopped at the front door, meowing at me again.

“What?” I didn’t get it. I looked through the peephole just to see if there was someone outside and she was telling me, but no, there was no one. Then it hit me. “Do you… want to go outside?”

Cake began to rub herself on my legs, looking at the door and meowing even louder.

“I guess the house is getting smaller for you.” Cake was growing quickly. She was still young, and though she still had even more growing to do, she was no longer a tiny kitten. That, and she had energy. She ran and played a lot with her toys, so with her getting bigger, the space around the house was probably not enough.

Then I remembered that along the things Noelle and Alice bought for her was a harness and a leash. I suppose we could try it.

“Want to go for a walk?”

Cake followed me as I went to find the harness and leash. It took a bit to put the harness on her as I had no idea how the thing worked, but once I figured it out, it was easy.

Cake looked somewhat uncomfortable with it, though. She tried to look at it and scratched herself with her back paws, but I decided to chalk it up to it being so unfamiliar. We’d see if she grew used to it.

I put the leash on her and led Cake around the house as a sort of test run. She was surprisingly cooperative. I expected her to be against it. After all, you don’t normally think of cats getting walks, do you? But I’ve read it’s good for them if they’re the sort to have high energy.

I walked Cake to the living room, where mom was sitting on the couch, quietly reading a book.

“Mom, I’ll try taking Cake out for a walk.”

She looked up from her book with a raised eyebrow. “Oh? What brought this on?”

“I think she wants it.”

“Mmm. Take the carrier with you in case she gets into trouble or gets tired. She’s still young.”

“Ah. Yeah, good idea.” The carrier wasn’t that big, and it almost looked like a normal bag, so I could easily carry it on my shoulder by the straps.

I threw some snacks in, a towel, some plastic bags to pick up her poop and a couple of her toys, just in case. I opened the front door and let Cake decide if we were really going out or not.

She took her time stepping outside, but when she did, she seemed excited. I closed the door and we were on our way.

“Actually, where should we even go?”

Not too far, since it was our first time going for a walk. There was a park about six blocks away, so maybe there?

We stuck to the sidewalk, and though I put us on track to go to the park, I let Cake take the lead and we went at her pace, which was honestly fairly fast. She looked around, curious about everything, but always walked forward without stopping for much other than to smell things on the way. I don’t know if that behavior is normal or not.

It was an uneventful walk to the park, but I had to consider that a good thing. For our first time, Cake had behaved extremely well. The weirdest thing was when she saw some birds and jumped on the jungle gym to try and catch them.

That said, she seemed kinda tired, or maybe overwhelmed, so when I opened her carrier she immediately went inside. You know, sometimes I think we got lucky and got a really well-behaved cat, all things considered.

I was about to just head back, but then I had a thought. A few blocks away from the park was a small music store. With Cake on the carrier, taking a look shouldn’t be an issue, right?

I walked there with the carrier hanging from my shoulder and the cat inside laying there and looking out. I had no way to confirm it, but I thought she was enjoying this, too.

We made it to the music store, but when we did, I felt stupid. It was a Sunday! Of course the store was closed! I wanted to ask if they had something I needed, or might need. I wanted to compare prices and see if they had it here for cheaper than online. But the store was closed. Bummer. Maybe it was a sign I shouldn’t get it after all?

“O-Oliver?”

I snapped my head to look at my left, completely taken by surprise by that voice.

Noelle was there, with a bag in her hand. She looked at me with wide eyes, and I was sure I was mirroring that expression.

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