Mom shut me in her room last night while I was sleeping.  When she opened the door I went dashing out and I couldn’t believe my eyes.  My favorite tree was gone! 

Mom has a big plumeria tree that she keeps inside when it’s really cold outside.  When spring comes she moves it outside so there’s more room in the house.  Last year when I first arrived at my new home, the tree was inside and I was so happy.  My very own tree!!  Mom had to tell me lots of times not to climb on it.  I still had to try.  After all, I needed to practice my climbing skills.  Then before I knew it, the tree was gone.  When Mom let me outside I discovered that my tree was on the deck and I was so happy to see it again.  Then the weather started getting colder and Mom brought my tree back inside.  By then Shakespeare was living with us so I introduced him to my tree.  All winter we had so much fun doing pull-ups on one of the lower branches.  We would jump up on the entertainment center and bat at the leaves on the top of the tree.  Mom had some wind chimes hanging from some branches so she always knew when we were playing with my tree. 

Now my tree is gone again!  In fact, I think all of the plants are gone and that means I won’t be able to stare at dirt.  What am I going to do?  Do you think Mom could “plant” some dirt for me and bring it in so I could stare at it when she’s at work? 

I was so sad last night that I just sat where my tree had been and kept looking around for something else I could play with.  I spent most of the night thinking about my tree.  Finally around 3 am I came up with some good ideas to keep me busy so I went to tell Mom.  She was sleeping and wasn’t too happy with me.  She just didn’t understand what I was trying to tell her so I kept her awake for two hours while I tried to explain.  I think she got a little upset ‘cuz she ended up shutting her bedroom door with me on the other side!  I was so concerned about my tree and I couldn’t figure out how to let her know. 

What am I going to do????

Are my eyes turning green like yours, Hemingway?

No.  Why would you ask something silly like that?

Well, I’ve been looking outside and those big stick-like things that Mom calls trees used to be brown and black and now they seem to have some green color to them.

Don’t you remember last spring and summer when Mom told you about the leaves coming out on the trees?

No.  I wasn’t even born until the end of March and Mom didn’t bring me home until June.  I was too scared to go outside and look around.  I was much more interested in finding out where the food was and where the litter box was.  I didn’t get any lesson on trees.  It seems like they’ve been brown and black for a REALLY long time!!!!  How long do they get to stay green?

In cat years, I think it’s maybe a couple of hours.  Mom says it’s a few months, but even she’s starting to doubt that now.  Have you heard her complaining about the weather?  She hasn’t been real happy with all the cold and the white stuff that kept falling for so long.  Maybe she’ll be happy now that the sun is shining and she doesn’t have to put on a coat to go outside.

I still think my eyes are turning green…………