Zee's Adventure in Discovering the Golden Rule … and Other Treasure

Part 1:  The Golden What?  Says Who?

by COLLEEN VALLO
Adviser

The doorknob clicked as it slowly opened. Zee's radar cone cat ears went into full alert as she almost opened her eyes. "Mara's home," she meowed with delight and jumped down from her favorite napping place on the window ledge in the living room. She ran to the door to greet her beloved companion.
 
Bam! The force of the impact sent Zee rolling across the slick kitchen tile floor. 
 
"Kiska," Mara shouted as she threw her books on the sofa and bent down to wrap her arms around the squirming, tail wagging Golden Retriever puppy she had gotten last month for her seventh birthday. "I missed you all day." 

​Zee felt awful as she lay across the kitchen watching this and found herself growing angrier by the moment. "Mara ignores me now that Kiska is here. When is that stinky dog going to leave? If he weren't here, everything would be perfect just like it was before." 
 
With that thought in mind, Zee ran over and jumped on Kiska's back and dug her claws into his fur. She clamped down on his neck with her teeth and held on tightly.
 
"Yelp," Kiska cried out. "Yelp, yelp, yelp," he wailed.
 
"Good," Zee said to Kiska as she dug her claws in deeper. "You deserve that. I hope I hurt you enough to make you leave here forever. Mara is my friend, not yours!"
 
"Mom, help me!" Mara cried out as she reached into the growling, yelping tangle of fur.  Zee quickly jumped off Kiska as Mrs. Marlowe came into the kitchen.
 
"Too much commotion for me," Zee thought as she ran toward the couch, stood up on her back legs and began scratching on it until Mrs. Marlowe pulled her off.
 
 "Zee, you are being a really bad, bad kitty," she said.
 
Mara added to the insult by calling Zee a mean bully. "What are we going to do with you? Why don't you treat Kiska as you would want him to treat you?" Mara asked as she knelt down with Mrs. Marlowe to see if Kiska was injured.
 
"What are you going to do with me?" Zee thought, feeling even angrier and more rejected. "What are you going to do with Kiska? Can't you see that I am right, and he is wrong? He has ruined everything between us. You don't love me anymore, just that smelly, panting dog. Why should I treat him as I want to be treated? Both of you don't treat me the way I want to be treated."
 
The angry stares were too much to bear. Zee ran off toward Mara's bedroom and jumped onto the bed. She began sobbing, feeling sadder and more alone than she had ever felt in her life.

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