He patiently followed Fleck The Snake along the winding path as he led The trusting pussycat deeper and deeper into the darkest part of the woods. At every instance where Chubb would stop to raise a question or two, the treacherous reptile would solemnly reassure him that it was the only path to safety and Chubb would follow him onward and inward deeper into the woods. Off in the distance he could hear the sounds of running water and stopped to ponder it, and as he did he could feel his belly begin to rumble again, and he began to slowly make his way towards the sound, Fleck The Snake tried to call out to him, but Chubb wouldn’t hear it, he saw in a small clearing amongst the trees, a shallow babbling brook. It wasn’t all that deep, only a few inches, and as he slowly made his way to the edge of the water he saw the forms of a small school of fresh trout as they slowly swam along. Something odd happen to Chubb that he couldn’t quite understand, a strange feeling came over him as he felt his body drop low to the ground, and he slowly began to creep to the waters edge slithering along, it was almost as if HE were the snake, his legs coiled and tensed and every muscle in his body had froze in an instant. And there by the edge of the babbling brook in a flash his legs had pushed him into the air and it was as if he were flying through it like a bird, he landed almost right on top of one of the fish and he hungrily sunk his teeth into it before it could swim away, he took it to the bank away from the water so it couldn’t wiggle free and get back in, and with a shocked Fleck The Snake witnessing the whole feasting ritual, Chubb the Lost farm cat caught and ate his first fish all by himself. As he gorged himself on the fresh fish, he began to notice that Fleck seemed to be growing more impatient with each passing moment, “We really should be pressing onward, but if you want to rest here I’ll go ahead and make sure there is no danger on the path,” and with that Fleck turned and disappeared down the path alone while Chubb stayed behind to finish his feast, and as he did he began to notice a few things about this strange place, it didn’t seem as scary to him as the day grew on, it was more peaceful now, he could even see the rays of the sun slowly making its way through the trees, and once again he started to grow tired and he stretched and he yawned, and soon another nap was upon him, and as he lay in the grass by the brooks edge he slowly drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up again he could hear the sounds of dry leaves being run though, and he turned towards the sounds just in time to see five shadowy figures moving swiftly and silently through the trees and bushes all around him. It didn’t take him long to detect the scent of canines. And when Fleck The Snake emerged from the path into the clearing Chubb knew that he had been deceived by the treacherous Snake. He slowly backed up to a tree so that nothing could come up behind him, “Wretched Snake!!” Chubb hissed “You tricked me! You’ve brought the wolves to make a meal of me! You never intended my safety!” Fleck seemed very pleased with himself, and as he drew closer to Chubb he could feel the five wolves beginning to close the circle, in which he was trapped in the middle of. Fleck The Snake started to hiss with laughter again, “Foolish Pussycat! You should know better than to trust a snake! I will always betray you! Is that not what snakes DO???” He paused only to continue his laughter, “You should be flattered Chubb of Foxwood, I have brought Kona The Wolf and his friends to meet you!!” What he could only have thought to be Kona appeared behind the snake in the clearing, he seemed huge to Chubb he had thick black Hair and his teeth were baring as he slowly approached to where Chubb was trapped, “Sooo, what have we here? A fat little pussycat you are! A delicious morsel you will be for Kona’s belly I have never in my life seen a kitty as fat as you! My friend Fleck was right.. It was so very nice to meet you kitty, and now its goodbye for you!” the large black wolf slowly growled a deep throaty growl, as he inched his way closer to Chubb, but before he could get close enough to collect his prize he was stopped in his tracks by a sound coming from the trees above, and a frightened Chubb raised his eyes to the tree tops just in time to see an orange flash land on top of the head of Kona the Wolf!! Half startled and half frightened the bewildered wolf howled and jumped back as Iggy buried his claws into the his head, “Up the tree Chubb! Climb my friend climb!” Chubb squealed with delight at the sight of his friend Iggy and immediately did as instructed and went up the tree with Iggy who had now leapt from the wolfs head hot on his tail.. “You must climb all of the way to the top Chubb! Don’t stop my friend don’t stop!” Kona by now had recovered from Iggy’s surprise attack and had now been joined by the rest of his small but deadly pack, “ so, it would appear that you have a friend do you Chubb? Well my fat furry little pussycat, so doe’s Kona! And we are a Patient lot indeed! and there are no trees close enough for you to jump to! So you must come down here sooner or later and we will be waiting for our dinner!” Iggy had begun to laugh hysterically, “Foolish wolf!! Do you think that I came alone? I too have friends in these woods! Very large friends indeed!!” and as Kona The Wolf turned to see, something Very large was making its way through the trees, And it was coming right towards them….

Ansel complained and oinked and made quite the ruckus almost all night to the point where he had started to keep the other animals awake, and then they too started to make a ruckus. And Ansel just knew that such a dramatic disturbance would surely bring Mr. Anders out into the dead of night with his lantern to investigate, and then he would unlock the pens to check on everyone and Ansel would slip by him and away into the darkness to waiting freedom. But Ansels plan didn’t go as he had hoped, for instead of Mr. Anders coming to investigate, it was his young son Jacob who walked into the barn with his lantern raised, and Jacob didn’t care much for the stench of pigs, and he didn’t open the gate to where Ansel was locked away, instead Jacob simply sat the lantern down on top of it while he went to check on the other animals in the barn, and Ansel became angry and snorted loudly, but Jacob ignored him, and so in all of his anger, he rammed his massive body against the locked gate, throwing the lit lantern through the air and landing it in the hay, catching it on fire and sealing his fate. The fire spread quickly through the barn, Young Jacob managed to get most of the animals safely out the door before the fire completely consumed the barn, but Ansel the angry swine had no such luck and he perished in the blaze. When Chubb awoke to seeing the raging inferno he could hardly believe his eyes, the barn had all but burnt down and the fire was spreading quickly into the Anders yard and began to threaten the farmhouse itself. Through all of the commotion the people running back and forth with buckets of water trying to fight off the blaze, Chubb thought he’d heard Iggy’s voice through it all yelling for him to run away from the raging flames which Chubb quickly did.. He headed towards the meadow as fast as his little legs could carry him, until he was far enough away that the fire seemed but a faint distant glow, he could feel his heart beating hard and fast, and Chubb knew that he was afraid, and for the first time ever in his life, he didn’t know what tomorrow was going to bring.

He walked quickly through the darkness for most of the night until he was too tired to continue, and when he finally stopped walking to look around him, it was far too dark to see anything, so he found a place to lay down and rest himself and he quickly fell fast asleep. At first light he woke up to what he’d thought was Foxwood farm , but upon remembering the fire he jumped to all four paws and quickly began to look around him, he was surrounded by huge tall trees and thick underbrush covered the ground, all around there were a few sparse narrow foot trails that had been cleared by human exploration, but there were no humans in sight and Chubb began to realize for the very first time that he was in a strange new place and he was all alone. There was no Iggy there to scold or warn him, no Mr Anders and his son Jacob there to feed him, no fresh trout, no milk, no breakfast, only Chubb and the world around him. He walked a little further into the deeper part of the woods with the fear of the unknown slowly building inside of him, but he pushed on hoping to recognize something that would tell him where he was, but saw nothing. The rumbling in his belly reminded him that it was long past breakfast, and his step had slightly slowed as he was slowly tiring again, so he decided after much consideration that it was safe to stop for a nap, and when he did he heard for the first time in the woods a voice, coming from within a bush. “Well now,” the voice hissed, “What have we here? a lost little Kitty alone in the woods? Come closer little kitty, come now I won’t bite you.” Chubb slowly moved closer to the bush and what emerged scared him, a snake, not a really big snake, but a snake none the less, a brown snake with scaly skin, fanged teeth and beady red eyes , and a forked tongue that flickered like a candle’s flame as it spoke its lies in a deep raspy low voice, “hello Kitty, are you lost?” Chubb slowly backed away.. “I am Chubb, of Foxwood Farm!” he proclaimed. “I am exploring these Woods in my masters name!” the snake began a slow slithering laugh “I am Fleck the snake, there are many dangers here in these woods Chubb the exploring pussycat, Kona The Wolf has soldiers everywhere, looking for lost little kitty’s to make a meal of, only Fleck can get you out of these woods alive, yessssss, only Fleck.. Get you out I can! Little kitty!” Chubb thought for a moment, “how can I trust a snake? how do I know that you will not betray me? YOU ARE A SNAKE!!!” And with Chubb’s very own questions, Fleck The Snake baited and set the hook, and waited patiently for Chubb to bite on it, “ But you explorer kitty are so much larger and certainly more capable the hunter than a little Snake could ever hope to be, if I betrayed you surely you would kill and eat me! I will show you the way to safety if you can only spare my life!” the bait was set ..and Chubb happily took it, “Lead the way Snake! I will follow!” Fleck turned slowly away from him and started down the path, and Chubb reluctantly Followed.

He stayed in the small confined space between the bails of hay out of the rain, inside of the large red barn it stayed dry for the most of time except in spots where the roof leaked. Inside he could hear the fussing of some of the other animals, The other resident Cat of Foxwood Farm named Iggy was inside stirring up trouble with Ansel the Pig.. “Well my fat little Pig, They’ve brought you in from the sty to stew, so they may clean you up for slaughter.. Such sorrow I feel for you Pig! By Fridays Eve, dinner on the Table of the humans you’ll be!” all of the others present gasped in horror at such taunts, even from such a cur as Iggy, but most knew in their hearts that as hard at times as it was to believe, he spoke the truth. The horse’s knew, the cow’s all knew, and the goats, and the chicken’s that scratched all day in their coop knew, even the old hound that lazily lay all day long on the stoop in front of the Anders Farmhouse Knew, once the Pig had been brought inside of the barn from the sty, the end was near. None of the other animals would even think of making light of the dilemma of a poor fat little pig being set for slaughter, but Iggy wasn’t raised on Foxwood Farm, in fact he’d only been there for one human year, he was already grown when he’d arrived, grown and wise to the ways of the outside world that loomed beyond the fences of Foxwood. He was orange with slight black stripes that ran along the sides of his back, and was slender and sleek and knew how to hunt very well, and yes the mice hated him. Chubb on the other hand was the exact opposite of Iggy, He was a large long haired gray and white tabby that was fat and well fed and saw no need for such barbaric practices as chasing and eating mice, for Chubb was born on Foxwood Farm, he’d lived there his whole life and the Anders had fed him everyday. Fresh milk, table scraps and whenever Mr. Anders and his young son Jacob went down to the river to fish, they had always brought him back a small fresh trout to feast on. Life on the farm was good for Chubb, and everyone liked him, Iggy on the other hand had to hunt and kill his own food to survive, and whenever he saw fit he would preach to the other animals of the true ways of the humans there and in the outside world beyond.

Whenever Chubb would decide to venture out into the tall grass of the rolling green meadow behind the farm, he would often try to imagine himself a mighty lion or tiger stalking its prey or protecting its young from the dangers of predators, such as big game hunters and the like, he would jump into the air and mightily bat at wildflowers and roll around in the grass almost to the point of exhaustion, and when he would return to the fence, there, Iggy would be waiting to scold him, “Foolish Chubb! Playing the games of a kitten again?? Such folly will not prepare you for the real world, nor will it protect you from the dangers hiding in it, why do you not learn to hunt for yourself for real? Do you think that there will always be a hand there to feed you? Foolish cat. Do you see those woods over there Chubb? In those woods hide real animals, hunters and predators of every sort, Wolves, bears and Snakes and the like, those who would dine on your flesh should you ever venture into their world unprepared, playing the games of a foolish young kitten will not serve you well in the end Chubb. It is the world that waits to devour you, and only You may prevent it.” Afterwards he would explain to Chubb that such a scolding was indeed for his own good, and he would regale the innocent Tabby with his story’s of the real world and all of his grand adventures in it, Iggy seemed the worldly cat conqueror to Chubb and he would listen to such story’s in great amazement. The other animals didn’t like Iggy all that much, most thought of him as an annoying little bully who liked telling others of how the humans were going to dine on them, those included Ansel The Pig. Ansel didn’t want to die, and in spite of the reassurance of the other inhabitants of the barn, he believed every word that Iggy the arrogant mouthy little cat had told him. So Ansel made a desperate plan, he was going to escape.

When the time has come, for you to go,

A colder place you’ll come to know.

Sometimes it seems so difficult to pass,

The brutal tests of life, where you won’t last.

You grow into a world of dreams,

That turns into a life of schemes.

You cheat, you lie, you steal, but in the end,

The more that you play the game, the less you win.

Then your forced to face, the final truth,

That all you hold, won’t stay with you.

That empty space you live, is no friend,

And life will always take you in the end.