Zipi and Skee - 1. Skee and Zipi

Skee's gold and blue eyes dilated as he stalked his prey. The song sparrow he called Zipi—short for the annoying "Zipi-zipi-coo-coo-ee-ee-kree" that the jerk always trilled—perched atop a branch of a fallen log. Skee lowered himself further, feeling the dirt and grass beneath his paws.

Zipi's time was finally at an end.

With a graceful leap, Skee launched himself at the sparrow, hissing as the flap of one of Zipi's tiny wings brushed against the top of his left ear. Skee leaped high again, trying to snatch the bird from the sky, but Zipi tweeted at him from the high branches of his favorite oak tree.

"This mockery will end with your life!" Skee yowled, though the sparrow could not understand his meows.

"Zipi zipi coo coo ee kree!"

"And I shall relish the silence after I swallow you whole!"

"Zipi zipi?"

Skee snorted, stretched, and stalked away from the tree. His potential breakfast had once again escaped, as it often did, but he had other ways of obtaining alternatives. As he neared the river, he heard a bear splashing about.

Easy peasy.

The feline kept himself low, hiding behind the boulders. As he suspected, the black bear had tossed some fish near the edge. Skee waited for the bear to begin splashing again. Then, he dashed forward, grabbed a sizable salmon with his teeth, and ran off. He heard a roar behind him but kept running until he was beneath the bushes that served as his shelter.

Skee ate more than his fill, not knowing when he'd next have a full meal. Then, he hid the remains of the salmon elsewhere and curled up into a ball at the base of the shrubs. As he napped, memories drifted in and out of his mind.

When he was a kitten, Skee was abandoned because of his black fur. At first, he tried to survive on the streets, following the example of other street cats by chasing rats and pigeons.

Some of the humans, as they liked to call themselves, would give him their leftovers. However, most of them shooed him away, telling him to "Skedaddle." They repeated this so often that the name stuck with him.

Eventually, Skee was chased into the woods by a chef. He had been caught with half a sausage that he had rescued from the restaurant's garbage bin. The chef used such colorful language that Skee ended up with several new names that day.

Despite the presence of much larger predators in the woods, Skee chose to risk encountering them rather than facing the humans who had imprisoned his siblings in their homes. He had become cautious of the fast-moving metal boxes that the humans drove, having witnessed a few of his street brothers lose their lives to them. But he decided to put those thoughts aside.

The days passed with a similar routine. Skee would attempt to catch Zipi for breakfast and then prowl for food he could steal from larger predators.

That day was no different.

"How dare you shake your tail at me, you tease!" Skee hollered the next morning when Zipi once again escaped his clutches. "Your luck will not last!"

Skee stomped away, his fur sticking out in all directions, until he came across quite a bounty.

He had noticed a pack of wolves that hunted larger beasts and was quick to steer clear of them. That pack had now left some scraps from their latest kill behind. Skee wasted no time taking a bite. The night before, he hadn't managed to catch so much as a rodent in the woods, so his energy level was low.

"Gruff!" Skee heard just before feeling the impact. He had been so focused on his meal and the scent of blood, that he didn't realize a coyote was nearby.

Typically, the other animals avoided the wolf pack's territory, so the sudden attack took Skee by surprise. He fought back valiantly, clawing, biting, and hissing. However, the coyote quickly sank its teeth into the back of his neck.

Just as suddenly as he had been caught, Skee was dropped. He heard a howl and realized that the pack of wolves must not have gone far; he could hear them chasing after the coyote.

Better him than me, Skee thought as he continued to bleed out on the ground near the remnants of the wolves' last kill, which had cost him greatly. The pain he felt was replaced with cold and dizziness.

That's when Zipi flew down and landed inches in front of his face.

"Go away." Skee whimpered. Despite all their interactions, he couldn't bear to see the little bird die at the hands of another predator. "Leave me to die, and get out of here."

Zipi hopped about, assessing Skee's form one last time before taking off. "Zipi zipi!"

Skee no longer had the energy to scoff. He never imagined the last thing he'd hear before passing away would be that annoying chirping. Only, at that moment, it wasn't all that annoying. How strangely comforting.

Those were his last thoughts before his vision went black.

"Are you sure you've made the right decision?"

Skee felt his ear twitch at the voice. Was he dead? Was that why he could understand those words?

"Zip zipi!"

Were there sparrows in the feline afterlife as well?

"If you insist," the strange voice urged. "Wake up now."

Skee's heterochromatic eyes opened, and what he saw confused him. What he could only describe as an oak tree fused with a figure resembling a male human was the speaker. He had bright green eyes and brown skin that was smooth on the inside but bark-like on the outside. His hands had fingers that bent, but each digit was like a branch with leaves on the ends instead of nails. The song sparrow was perched on his broad shoulder. The sight caused Skee's back to curve and the fur along his spine to bristle.

"What kind of afterlife is this?" Skee hissed.

"You're not dead," the tree guy insisted. "My little friend here begged me to help heal you."

"Zipi!"

"You can understand us both?" Skee questioned.

"Ah," the tree guy mused, reaching down to touch one of his leaves to the tip of the cat's nose. "Would this help?"

"You live!" The sparrow trilled. "I brought the oak nymph. He saved you!"

Not only did Skee understand the chirping at that time, but he also comprehended on a deeper level that the bird, of all other creatures, was the one who vouched to save him.

"Zipi… thank you," Skee responded. "I vow to never chase after you again. Instead, I will protect you."

"He already has my protection," the oak nymph said. "As do you. I'm glad you're finally starting to get along."

"Thanks to you as well," Skee added.

"Well, my little friend," the oak nymph said to Zipi as he reached out one of his finger branches so the bird could hop off and onto the cat's head. "It seems you won't be lonely in my absence any longer."

"Thank you!" Zipi chirped.

The song sparrow and the feline watched as the oak nymph faded into the large oak tree behind him before Skee broke the silence.

"Does this mean we can't die?"

"Yes!"

For a brief moment, Skee was tempted to test fate by swatting Zipi off his head to verify his theory. But then his gaze fell on the splotches of his own blood on the ground, and he remembered the feeling of helplessness. Something had changed within him, and he had no intention of forgetting it.

"This still beats getting hit by those metal boxes or being eaten by a coyote," Skee affirmed. "So, how did you come across the oak nymph, anyway?"

"I almost died one winter," Zipi replied. "He saved me."

"Is that so? The guy seems consistent. Is it really just you and me who know about him?"

"Yes!"

"Could be worse," Skee meowed. "Better you than the bear."

The song sparrow sang in appreciation. "I'd much rather be your friend."

"Is that what you were singing this whole time? Zipi means 'friend'?" Skee asked.

"Yes!" Zipi replied. "What were you always trying to tell me?"

Skee's past exclamations rushed back to him: How dare you shake your tail at me, you tease! I shall relish the silence after I swallow you whole!

"Come to think of it," Skee said aloud, "Nothing I was saying was important at all. Forget all that."

As the cat continued to talk to the sparrow perched atop his head, the oak tree's leaves rustled in amusement.

What an unlikely pair they made, indeed.