CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE

TILLY AND THE MORNING GLORIES

CHAPTER FIVE

Tilly awakened early the next morning. She was still a little afraid of going out, and meeting the other cats. However, she made up her mind that today she would go out with Gershom. She took a deep breath, and walked out of her cardboard box. She looked around the room, and was surprised that Gershom was nowhere to be seen. Only Reuel was in the room with her, and he was busy eating. Tilly went up to him, and asked him if he had seen Gershom.
“Never came back here last night,” he told her.
Tilly wondered where Gershom could have been all night. But since he wasn’t around, she decided to ask Reuel if he would like to be adopted into God’s family.
“Reuel,’ she began, ‘after our talk last night, I was wondering if you would like to be adopted into God’s family.”
“Our talk?” Reuel asked. “We didn’t talk. You did all the talking.”
“Well, maybe I didn’t explain things well enough,” Tilly said. “Maybe you need to know more, and I can help you.”
“I know enough,” he answered. “I don’t want anything to do with being adopted. You can keep that.”
He turned his back on Tilly, and returned to his breakfast. Tilly was thinking about how important it was to be adopted into God’s family, when a loud fight broke out in the hallway. Because it was already morning, the doors to the small rooms were opened. Tilly carefully moved closer to the open door, so she could see what all the snarling and hissing was about. She could tell that the loud snarling was coming from somewhere down the hallway around a corner. It got louder and meaner, until one of the people who worked here began scolding the fighting cats. Another worker joined the first one, and together they tried to get the fighting cats back in their rooms. Tilly listened closely, and through all the yelling and hissing she heard a familiar voice. It was Gershom, telling the others to quiet down and behave themselves.
Suddenly, Tilly saw a large gray cat run around the corner and down the hallway, straight toward her room. He was being chased by five other cats. The five cats were being chased by two workers who were trying to catch them. The gray cat rushed into Tilly’s room, just as the last of the five cats who were chasing him got caught by one of the people. He ran around the room wildly, too frightened to go back out into the hallway. Finally, in desperation, he jumped up onto Reuel’s high perch and stayed still.
Looking up at him, Tilly could see that he wasn’t as large as he first appeared to be. His long and thick fur coat made him look larger than he really was. She had seen cats like him in windows, and knew they were called Persians. Usually, their fur was long and beautiful, but this one’s fur was matted and dirty. Tilly thought he must have been on the streets for a long time to look like that.
She was about to ask the gray cat what happened out there in the hallway, when Reuel suddenly jumped up onto the second highest perch and attacked the gray cat from behind, baring his teeth and snarling. He scratched him, and tried to bite him, forcing him to jump down from the high perch to the floor. The gray cat ran out of the room, and into the hallway. Tilly sat still and quietly, but she didn’t hear any fighting. She thought the gray cat must have made it back to his room safely.
“This is my perch, and no one better forget that!”
Tilly looked up, surprised at the sound of Reuel’s angry voice. He looked down at her and repeated, “no one better forget that.”
Tilly just sat there, looking up at Reuel. She couldn’t answer him. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She was looking at someone who didn’t want to be adopted into God’s family. He was young, and beautiful, and loved. But none of that mattered to him. The only thing that mattered to him was a small wooden plank that stuck out of a brick wall. He was angry because someone sat on his perch. How sad, Tilly thought.
Then she remembered that, just a day ago, she herself had been prepared to fight over her cardboard box. Looking over at her box, she realized what it meant to her. It was her little piece of private space. She would not have wanted anyone else in her box any more than Reuel wanted someone else on his perch.
Getting up and walking toward her box she didn’t look back at Reuel. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. She thought about what Gershom said about Jesus. Gershom said that the Holy Spirit was the Spirit of God that Jesus sent to us from heaven. The Holy Spirit could be everywhere, all the time. The Holy Spirit is our helper. She lay down on her bed, and prayed to Jesus. She asked Him to keep her safe in here. She asked Him to help her be friends with Reuel. She thanked Him for giving her a new friend named Gershom. She asked Him to watch over the gray cat, so he wouldn’t be afraid in here. She thanked Him for adopting her into His family. She was just finishing up her prayer when she heard Gershom walk into the room. He came up and told her it was almost time for her to go out with him to have lunch.
“Are you ready to go out with me,” he asked her.
“Yes, but I want you to stay close by me. Maybe Reuel would like to come, too,” Tilly answered, pointing her front paw at him up on his perch.
“Reuel,” Gershom said. “So, that’s his name. You know, that name means ‘friend of God’.
“Really?” Tilly asked. “I tried to talk to him about being adopted into God’s family. He didn’t want to listen to me.”
Gershom smiled a gentle and kind smile as Tilly told him about how she tried to talk to Reuel about being adopted into God’s family.
“When that happens, you can’t let it make you angry,” he told her. “You have to remember that Jesus always tries again to get someone to listen. He never gives up on anyone. Sometimes, one sows and another reaps.”
“What does that mean?” Tilly asked.
“Well, to sow means to plant a seed. To reap means to pick the grown plant. You see, sometimes we tell others about Jesus. We plant the seed that makes them want to know Him. Sometimes, it seems like they didn’t even hear you. But later on, when they are alone, or with someone else, they think about what you told them about Jesus. Then they believe in Him, and are adopted into God’s family. That seed you planted begins to grow. It’s like planting a flower seed. God had you plant the seed, even though you may never see the flower, because it takes time to grow. You may be far away from the one you talked to about Him. It may have been a long time since you saw them. You may not even remember them. But Jesus will be there to see the flowers when it blossoms, and He’ll take them for His own,” Gershom explained.
When Gershom finished talking, he and Tilly walked toward the door of the small room. Just before they got to it, Reuel opened his eyes, and looked down at them from his high perch.
“Can I go with you?” he asked Gershom.
“Sure,” Gershom answered. “You can come with us. Come on.”
They walked out into the hallway. Tilly and Reuel followed Gershom past many small rooms on either side of them. As they walked along, they noticed that some of the rooms became much larger than the others. A few of the rooms were very small. Some of them had windows covered by shades so that the rooms were hidden from view. Gershom explained that those were rooms where cats who were sick or injured were kept. He told them that some of the people who worked here took care of them.
“Do those cats come out to eat?” Tilly asked Gershom.
“Oh, no. Some of the cats need special help to eat. Some of them have to eat very slowly, so it takes them a long time. Some of them are too weak to defend themselves if another cat fights with them. A few of them are by themselves in the really small rooms, because they are sick, and the other cats could get sick by being around them. I’m allowed to see any cat I want to.”
“You go in the rooms with the sick cats?” Reuel asked. “Aren’t you afraid of catching something.”
“I’ve been going to them for years. It’s important for them to hear about Jesus. They’re my friends and I love them.”
Tilly wanted to ask Gershom a question, but she didn’t know how to ask him. Finally, she said, “do they ever, you know, not get well?”
“You mean, do they sometimes die?” Gershom said. “Yes, sometimes they do. I stay with them so they won’t be alone. That’s what I was doing last night. That’s why I didn’t come back to our room.”
“I wouldn’t want to do that,” Reuel said. “You can keep that job.”
“Well, here we are,” Gershom said, as they came to the door of the eating room. “Now listen. Some of the others like me, and some of them don’t. The ones who don’t like me usually don’t say anything. But if they say something mean to me, I just don’t pay any attention to it.”
They entered a large room that had lots of perches built into the walls. There were also a lot of playtrees and boxes throughout the room. It had plenty of food and water dishes. There were cats on some of the perches, playing on the playtrees, walking around, and eating. Most of the cats stopped what they were doing to look at the two newcomers following Gershom.
Gershom asked Tilly and Reuel what kind of food they each liked. Tilly liked soft food. Reuel wanted crunchy food. Gershom led Tilly to one dish, and she started to eat with another cat who was already there eating. He led Reuel to another dish. When Gershom had eaten a little himself, he left to go to the room next door and visit with a sick cat.
When Reuel started eating, the other cats who were around his dish slowly started moving away from him. Tilly noticed that within a few minutes he had the dish all to himself. She also noticed that five other cats, who seemed to all be friends, started walking toward him. She recognized at least two of the five cats. They were the ones she saw chasing the gray cat down the hallway. The closer they got to Reuel, the more the other cats backed away. Tilly started to get worried about Reuel. She wondered why the five cats were getting so close to him. Then one of the five cats, a young black and white one, went right up to him.
“Hey, you there,” the black and white cat said. “We like you already. You’re just like us.”
Reuel looked up from his dish and snarled, showing his teeth.
“Alright, pal,” the black and white cat said, laughing. “Take it easy. Go ahead and eat up. We’ll wait for you.”
The other four cats who were with the black and white one laughed loudly. They stayed by Reuel until he finished eating. They followed him when he went to get a drink of water. After Reuel had taken a long drink of water, he looked at them.
“Go away,” he told them. “I don’t want to talk to you, or anyone else.”
The black and white cat looked at one of the other four cats who were with him. This one was a big, reddish brown, one. He seemed to be the leader of the group, even though he had not yet said anything to Reuel.
“You heard us,” the reddish brown cat said. “We like you. We heard you chased old pershy out of your room. Good for you. You gave him one big scratch on his back. You think like us. We like you. We want you to come stay in our room. We can all be friends. We’re like one big, happy, family.”
The other four cats in the group laughed loudly. They all started talking to Reuel at the same time. They were trying to convince him to go with them to their room.
“Come on, Reuel,” said one. “We like you.”
“Come stay in our room,” said another. “We can all be friends.”
“Make up your mind,” said the reddish brown cat. “We’re telling you to come with us. You’re just like us anyway.”
“Wouldn’t you rather stay with us, Reuel, than spend your time in a room with old Gershom?” the black and white cat said. “Why, that old Jesus preacher spends so much time talking about heaven that he forgets he’s stuck in this old shelter.”
The five cats all laughed again. This time Reuel laughed with them. Tilly was scared. She didn’t like those cats. They seemed mean. She didn’t trust them at all. She wanted to say something, but she was too afraid. When Reuel started walking out of the eating room with them, Tilly knew she had to speak out.
“Reuel,” she cried out. “Don’t go with them. Stay in our room. You don’t even know them.”
Reuel turned around when he heard Tilly’s voice, and so did the group of five cats. Without any warning, they all snarled loudly and started running toward her. Terrified, she ran across the room and jumped onto a high perch. She called out to Gershom to help her.
Gershom came from the room next door, and ran toward where Tilly was standing on her perch. She looked down at him, too frightened to speak. The cats who weren’t in the group of five cats scattered quickly, running in every direction. No one except Gershom came to help Tilly. The five cats snarled and hissed at Gershom. They swiped at him with their claws. He stood his ground, refusing to abandon Tilly.
Finally, one of the five cats said, “I hear the jailers coming. Let’s get out of here.”
They rushed from the room and disappeared down the long hallway. A minute later two of the people who worked at the shelter came through the door of the eating room. They quickly looked around. One of the ladies saw Gershom and said, “oh Gershom, what happened to you?”
Tilly looked down at Gershom, and saw that he was bleeding from some deep scratches on his head and chest. Her eyes welled up with tears, as the lady worker picked him up, and took him away to get his scratches cleaned up. She was angry and ashamed. Angry that those mean cats had hurt Gershom. She was ashamed that she had been too scared to help him. She was especially angry at the other cats. All of them together could have chased those mean cats to the end of the building. Instead, they all ran off and hid. They left Gershom and Tilly alone to face that group of mean cats.
Tilly looked around the eating room. The other cats were coming out of hiding. They were talking about what happened. Talking, but not doing anything to help, Tilly thought to herself. Leaving her alone and letting Gershom be beat up by that group of five mean cats, she thought. As Tilly was thinking about everything that happened, she suddenly noticed that Reuel was nowhere around. The group of five, she thought sadly, was now a group of six.