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December 25, 1986 - Fuzzy the Xmas Cat: A Children's Tale�Ap r aC! ,e ngne(1,P9r iz. Aloti,,R Q­Tgt eoeq The Suffolk Times /December 25, 1986 /Page 1 A SECOND S CTION THE SUFFOLK TIMES Fuzzy the Xmas Cat: A Children's Tale By PAUL STOUTENBURGH Everybody knows Santa's work- shop is a busy place this time of year. To add to the confusion, Santa has five little kittens who seemed to get under everybody's feet, especially one called Fuzzy, a particularly mis- chievous one. One night, Fuzzy was playing hide and seek with his friends. Looking for a place to hide, he crept into Santa's storage room where there were bags of toys all waiting for Christmas. One was open, so Fuzzy climbed inside. There was a big doll in the bag, so he curled up in its lap. And before you knew it, he fell fast asleep. Christmas Eve What Fuzzy didn't know was it was Christmas Eve. He never heard Santa's helpers hitch up the reindeer to the magical sleigh. He never heard Santa's helpers loading all the bags of toys on the sleigh. He didn't even feel it when his bag was tossed on board. The first he realized something special was going on was when he heard the jingle of sleigh bells as the reindeer got ready for their once -a- year magical trip to visit all the good boys and girls. Then, from inside the bag, Fuzzy heard Santa's big deep voice calling as the sleigh started to move, "Merry Christmas to all," and then a snap of a whip and the magi- cal sleigh seemed to just fly away as if it were riding on soft marshmal- Focus on Nature lows. Fuzzy could hear the wind whistling past the top of his bag and once through a little opening in the bag he thought he could feel a snowflake on his whiskers. Where could he be going? Final Stop Finally about three o'clock in the morning Santa grabbed Fuzzy's bag . and a most extraordinary adventure began. Santa went down the chimney of Billy Squire's house with Fuzzy in- side the bag of toys. In no time they landed inside a huge, beautiful man- sion. Billy was the only son of a rich merchant who spent most of his time working at his office making lots of money. That was all right but it didn't leave much time for being with Billy. Since he had no brothers or sis- ters to play with, he often became very very lonely. Santa usually got right to work taking toys out of his bag and putting them under the tree. But this time he was hungry and so after he had untied the bag he stopped to look around for something to eat. On the table Billy had left some cookies and milk for Santa, along with a note that read, "Dear Santa, I have all the toys I need, so please give my. share to someone else who needs them. L_ - _ _ _ - Thanks so very much for stopping and help yourself to a glass of milk and cookies. Your friend, Billy.?' Santa just couldn't believe this but after he looked around the playroom he could see why. There were all .sorts of toys and lots of them, too. So many that he thought it looked like his own workshop. There were sleighs and bikes and trains and airplanes and rockets, just about anything a rich boy could have. While Santa was busy looking about, Fuzzy jumped out of the bag and hid under a chair by the Christ- mas tree. He was afraid Santa might not have liked him coming along, so he kept real quiet. He saw Santa reach into the bag and pull out a special painting set. It seems Santa would never leave a house without leaving a toy. He hadn't seen any paints around the mansion so he put the paint set under the tree. After finishing up the cookies and milk, Santa tied the bag up again, put it on his back and walked over beside the fireplace. He put a finger alongside of his noise and in a fluff of soot up the chimney he went. And Fuzzy was all alone in the huge house. After exploring awhile, Fuzzy climbed onto a big chair. The room was nice and warm, the chair was soft, and soon Fuzzy was fast asleep again. A little while later, the sun came up and it was Christmas morning. A door opened and in came Billy. He was a nice boy but seemed sad, which was hard to believe on Christ- mas Day. Billy first went to the table, and sure enough, Santa had taken the cookies and milk. "Now let's see if he did what I asked him to do," thought Billy. He looked around and saw the big box of paints and that was all. He was glad -- someone else would get all those other toys. "But why did he leave me a box of paints ?" Billy wondered. He didn't know the first thing about painting, but maybe that's why Santa left them. So he opened up the box, took out a brush and looked around the room. "Now what should I paint? I've never done this before," he said. "I could paint the Christmas tree but that's so complicated and has so many dif- ferent colors in it. What I need is something simple" Then he saw Fuz- zy sitting on the chair. "Oh, Santa left me a make - believe cat too. What do you do with a stuffed'cat ?" he said. "I guess I could paint it." And so he started very slowly to paint the cat that sat there without moving a whisker. The more he painted, the more he found he enjoyed painting. Then he thought he saw the cat's ear twitch, but that couldn't be, not on a stuffed' cat. Then he thought he saw the tail move just the tiniest bit. He was al- most finished with. the painting when he wanted to do a better job of the face. So he got up and walked over to the big chair and stared at the cat's face. It almost looked real as he put his hand out to touch it. Billy jumped back when Fuzzy's eyes opened. Then Billy's eyes lit up. "It's a real live kitten and it's all mine," he said. "What a wonderful Christ- mas. This is the best gift I ever had!" Billy started to pet Fuzzy and picked him up and held him close to him. Fuzzy thought how gentle he was. He had never had anybody pay that much attention to him before. Billy was going to be a super friend. Billy would never again be lonely in the big house and Fuzzy would, have the big house to explore, and best of all he'd have Billy as his own friend to play with. Christmas had come to Billy and Fuzzy with a very special meaning just as it does to each and every one of us at Christmastime. What more could one ask than to have a friend and someone to love on Christmas Day.