The Butterfly



Butterfly



 As Sasha and Sherlock neared the squirrel, cornering it  in at both sides, something caught Sherlock's attention that made him whip around and turn over, jumping completely off the tree and giving the squirrel a chance to escape. It was a butterfly--and the same one at that. You see, throughout the whole "hunting" adventure Sherlock had been keeping his eye on a bright colored butterfly, never mind his training. Yes, he was focused and ( almost) prepared ( thanks to bright Sasha's witty skills and strong determination ) but still every now and then his eyes wandered off to something bright and beautiful, which mesmerized him and left his gaze locked tight: The butterfly. Here's how it went:

The air was still and quiet, nothing rustled or even chirped. The only sound out there was the chubby squirrel's buck teeth hammering away on a plump chestnut. Sherlock made his way up the tree, followed by Sasha on the opposite side.They had him cornered. They had both made it safely up the tree and everything was falling into place until... Sasha appeared behind a thick branch, startling the squirrel. As he [the squirrel] let out a high-pitched sound of  fright and whipped around to escape, he was met face-to-face with Sherlock. With no other branch high enough to climb, the squirrel was helpless. Sherlock centered in on him, his teeth bared and claws extended. Sasha copied. They grew closer and closer, hunger burning in their eyes ( he hadn't eaten for almost the whole day, his owners weren't back from the pet store  yet with his meow mix: remember he's still a house cat and "hunting" in his own backyard. As for Sasha she hadn't eaten either ) .  Finally they had the squirrel trapped. As Sherlock made his first and final swipe something caught his eye. Floating around a nearby limb ( okay, they are on the top of the tree but there's still plenty of branches around just not close enough for the squirrel to get to ) was a bold colored butterfly. Dark black stripes made its fire-like orange quite noticeable, and Sherlock couldn't help but chase his gaze after it. It floated closer and closer, occasionally pausing to such the nectar out of a near-by blossom.  Before long the butterfly was beneath Sherlock fluttering about. Without hesitance Sherlock completely forgot what he was up to and jumped straight off the branch landing feet first on the soft earth below. He sat up straight and focused his eyes on the bright butterfly. When it came close enough ( apparently it took no notice of his abrupt movement and landing ) Sherlock swiped his claws high, feeling like a bubbly kitten, hoping to catch it! The butterfly ascended higher in the air, just out of his reach. He tried harder this time to catch the bright beauty, but it would simply move along higher or farther ( actually amused not terrified ) along yet again out of his reach. The butterfly, with Sherlock faithfully following, continued on its sky path grazing the grassy meadow-like yard. He would follow, eyes intently hooked on the butterfly, and just as he was about to catch it, the butterfly would gracefully higher itself up.  This procedure followed for quite sometime, until the sun began to move a bit lower in the sky and they were both far along ( never leaving the yard ). During this time, Sasha puzzled: what happened? We were right about to catch that plump morsel and then it was all one big orange tail and the little rascal scurried off! How could he do this-- why did he do this?  She was equally angry at him for blowing her off as well as  puzzled. As Sasha gathered her thoughts, still baffled, something came to mind: Wasn't there a bright red thing hovering above while we were busy cornering in that squirrel? Funny how right when Sherlock disappeared so did that butterfly. And then it hit her.  Of course! Now this all makes sense. Hey, now  that I think about it, I re-call Sherlock did keep wandering his gaze off every now and then. It took her a little while for all this to sink in, then she realized she couldn't stay mad at her new friend. As she jumped off the tree, squirrel nowhere in sight, and made a nice leap onto the ground, she made up her mind to go looking for him I'm sure he didn't wander off too far ( of course he was still in the backyard, in fact not far from where she was standing, simply hidden by the tall grass, tail-tip invisible ) but I should still go looking for him--just in case. She began to walk off in the direction his smell was strongest, until something caught her eye. It was big and light blue, hovering over-head. Checking to make sure no one was looking ( although besides Sherlock, who was busy chasing after his own butterfly, no one was there ) she abandoned her ruff-cat attitude and left her pride behind, playfully extending one paw and chasing after the blue butterfly.