Street life is good for the kitten Jasper. But when a flash flood washes him far from his feral family, Jasper must survive increasingly dangerous adventures to find his way home.

More information coming soon on this new young readers book. Read the first chapter below.

 

 

Jasper

Chapter 1, Fire in the Night

 

All over this country there are a series of trails that some animals know, and they are all connected. These trails wind through backyards, the way back properties of various businesses where old vans are abandoned, fields out in the country, through quiet neighborhoods, and out of the way zones. In Tennessee that trail is called the Troy Turnpike, and it runs west-east from Troy, Tennessee to Knoxville, Tennessee at least. It may go even further. Animals traveling on the Turnpike may as well be invisible; they can wander long distances without being seen. Only five blocks from the Troy Turnpike, two cats’ lives were about to turn upside down. Beyond the long hallway entrance to Tyger Lily and Warlock’s apartment, more than just snowfall marked this night.

Two floors above them a young couple decided the February snowfall made for a romantic night and to go along with the mood that the storm brought they decided to make a fire in their fireplace. This fireplace hadn’t been used in years. The chimney itself not cleaned for decades. The young man, remembering his days as a Boy Scout, began small with the kindling and built up a formidable looking log cabin within the old brick fireplace, bragging that it would be a one-match fire with absolutely no paper required. And that was all it took…. Soon the billowing hot smoke found it difficult to rise in the creosote clogged chimney and so like a vaporous snake, coiled backwards and began slithering into the couple’s apartment. Smoke alarms blared in the building. The couple opened all of their windows. Flames erupted from the rooftop chimney, the built up creosote igniting, shooting up into the dark snowy night. The building’s occupants exited the building and gathered on the opposite side of the street. Snow fell harder. The wind blew, fanning the flames. The roads slick with snow and icy from the sudden drop in temperature. One fire engine skidded, slid sideways in the roadway, its huge tires stopped only by the stone curb in front of the building. Sirens screamed in the dark snowy air of Nashville, racing to the fire.

In their comfortable place between buildings, Tyger Lily and Warlock watched the pulsing red lights dance on their brick walls. Because the cat apartment was between the two buildings, and one of the buildings being a floor higher than the other, they never experienced rain or snow in their cozy cat-sized abode. But now freezing water laced with acrid smoke gushed down upon them as the fire crews arced jets of water into the chimney and onto the roofs. The two cats had to get out. When they emerged onto the sidewalk, firetrucks and firefighters. Pulsing red lights strobed windows and colored the sideways snow in stripes. Shivering residents from both buildings huddled on the opposite side of the street. Police directed traffic. Voices shouted orders. Radios crackled in the night like the voice of the storm.

Suddenly, as the two cats stood stunned, a net fell over Warlock and the Animal Control Officer hoisted him aloft. In the darkness and confusion as he struggled in the net, Tyger heard him meow, “Run, Tyger, run! Take care of our kittens!”

That’s the thing. Tyger Lily was already experiencing the first birth contractions. Heavy with the kittens who were waiting to be born this late winter’s night, she ran. She slipped and fell on the snowy sidewalk, slid on her side. She got up with difficulty. Began running again. The strobing lights finding her every two seconds. She managed to get further and further away from the chaos, from their previously safe home near Printers Alley. The sideways snow made it hard to see. Her belly ached. She feared she would simply have to stop and have her kittens on the snow covered sidewalk. And could they survive that? Could she? At the bottom of the hill, the lights from all of the buildings muted in the storm, a wind literally pushed her into an alleyway. She plodded on in the hail of driving snow, sweating despite the freezing temperature. Then she saw three good-sized crates stacked against a wall. She sniffed, looked around, and with all of her strength leaped into the middle crate. Landed in soft dry hay. Within minutes she gave birth to Marshmallow. Then Punkie. Then Pepper. And Finally, Jasper, a cat born in a storm, a cat born for adventure.