Nitro Weepot: A Cat's "Tail"

By Roxanne Henderson

Victor and Valerie Valiant raise a kitten in their house. They become aware of the mysterious power in his tail.

He's fast and wild when he teases the scared cats in the Valiants Cat Shelter.

An older cat in the shelter calms Nitro Weepot down by telling him stories of the outside world.

The older house cat tells Nitro Weepot what his mystery powered tail is for and how to use it to rescue lost cats.

The old shelter cat also tells Nitro Weepot that there are bad and scary things in the desert.

What is it? Will it go after Nitro Weepot? Will his strange array of friends help him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648018060

Book preview

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Nitro Weepot

A Cat's Tail

Roxanne Henderson

Copyright © 2020 Roxanne Henderson

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2020

ISBN 978-1-64801-805-3 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64801-806-0 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Mischief, you helped me survive. Steven J. Steffan—my husband, best friend, and all-around fun partner. I miss you! Cocoa Puff, you acted like Nitro Weepot’s mother and never left Steven’s side.

1

It was monsoon season in the Arizona desert and a big storm was moving in. The brown sand wall, kicked up by the high gusts of wind, was in front of the purple-and-black clouds. It was an eerie sight and one to be afraid of. The young feline mother-to-be knew her time was coming and she had to find some shelter quick. Ahead she saw two houses; one had a large building beside the house, but smelled of other cats, the other house looked abandoned, so she chose it. If she had only known the house that smelled like cats was Victor and Valerie Valliant’s Cat Shelter, she would have been safe and warm.

She tried to find a way into the house. No luck. It was really starting to rain and the wind was getting stronger. She saw her only hope, a dry place under the roof’s eve. She carefully jumped up on the wall that surrounded the house and with all her might leaped onto the slick roof tiles. Her kitten was coming. She lay down under the eve and had her baby.

Across the road, Victor and Valerie were making sure all was secure for the storm. Mischief and Cocoa Puff, the resident cats, were taking their own precautions in Kitty City (a room full of cat condos).

Cocoa, this storm sounds really bad, said Mischief, as she curled her long silvery tail around her feet. I hate the loud booming noises.

My kitty premonitions are telling me something is going to happen, Cocoa answered.

Valerie came in and asked, Are you two okay?

Mischief looked out the condo hole and meowed timidly, Cocoa Puff’s only reply was a slow lumbering walk to the crunchy food bowl. Her short little legs couldn’t go any faster.

Victor, a tall, handsome man, walked into the living room carrying a cold Diet Coke and said, Everything is storm-ready, how about your end, Val?

Mischief is hiding and Cocoa is in the food bowl, so yeah all is normal. Got a cold one for me?

You know I wouldn’t forget my favorite gal Victor chuckled as he handed her the soda from behind his back.

Cocoa Puff had just gotten into a deep sleep when crack! A huge bolt of lightning jolted the sky with an immediate crash of thunder behind it.

Mischief jumped out of her condo, her long silvery hair standing on end. Oh crud, I hate these storms!

Shhh! Cocoa hissed, Listen, do you hear that?

Everything become eerily quiet, the storm had moved on, when all of the sudden a strange noise. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee pot.

Did you just hear ‘weeeeeeeeeeee-pot?’ Mischief asked.

I think so, Cocoa replied.

What makes… Cocoa interrupted Mischief again.

Be quiet! demanded Cocoa. I hear a kitten!

Oh, Cocoa, you’re always hearing kittens, just because you didn’t have one, doesn’t mean…

Mischief, shut up and listen! Cocoa listened hard at the window and heard a tiny mew, mew, mew.

Mischief sat up and said, That’s a kitten crying! I’ll go get Valerie.

Mischief knew that Valerie understood her different cries, they had been together for fourteen years. She tore around the corner, almost sliding on the tile floor. She jumped in Val’s lap and started her something’s wrong meow.

Valerie picked her up to comfort her. It’s okay, Mischief, the storm is gone.

Mischief meowed again and ran to the front door, slamming into Cocoa as she rounded the corner. Mischief kept up her loud crying, Cocoa was jumping at the door.

Victor had never seen this display before and asked, Val, what is going on, what is wrong with those two cats?

I’m not sure, Vic, but something is going on outside and they know it! Let’s go.

Victor and Valerie grabbed their shoes and opened up the door. Mischief and Cocoa, you stay here, Vic demanded.

They walked down the sidewalk and all of the sudden they heard it too. Mew, mew, mew.

It’s a kitten, Vic, go get a blanket, we’ve got to hurry and save it. If it keeps mewing like that the hawks will fly in and get it before we can!

Valerie charged across the road, twisting her long brown hair into a bun. Vic ran and got a warm blanket and met her at the other house. The mewing stopped. They searched the yard, they looked in the pottery that was left at the front door, nothing. They went to the side of the house, nothing. Then, mew, mew, mew. Vic ran around to the front again, and there it was, lying in the muddy flower garden was a tiny baby kitten.

Valerie, I found it! Vic exclaimed.

Oh, thank God! Valerie took one look at the poor wet muddy kitten and said, We’ve got to get it warm, he’s only a day old if that!

Here you take it, I’ll look for the mother, she’s got to be around here somewhere.

Vic handed Valerie the baby and started around the other side of the house. He looked up in the now blue sky and sure enough, a hawk was circling, looking for its prey. I’ve got to find that mother cat and quickly!

Valerie wrapped up the tiny bundle and went to the house. Waiting, of course, were Mischief and Cocoa.

Was I right? Was I right? Cocoa sang out with glee.

Looks like it. Mischief mumbled. She had had her share of adopted kittens. When she was younger she had to sleep with six of them and wake Valerie every time they needed to be fed.

Cocoa was so excited. Oh, I finally get a kitten of my very own!

Whatever, Cocoa, you won’t be so excited when you see how annoying kittens can be, I’m going back to bed, growled Mischief as she jumped back in her blue carpet-covered condo.

Just go to bed, you old grumpy bat, who needs your opinion anyway.

Valerie opened the blanket and lay the kitten down on the table. She went to the pantry and opened up a brand-new can of cat milk supplement, grabbed a bottle and started the bottle-feeding process. Use some warm water to dilute the milk, poor it into the bottle, and gently put the nipple in the kitten’s mouth. She had done this so many times she could do it in her sleep, but was always a little nervous with a new kitten. Cocoa jumped up on the table to see the new kitten. It was beautiful.

Let’s see what we’ve got here, Cocoa, Valerie said lovingly. It’s a little tabby boy. Isn’t he pretty? He’s got cute little white paws, like he’s wearing mittens and some white on his face, neck, and belly. Let’s see how he takes to the bottle rather than his mother. It’s okay, little boy, you’re safe now.

Valerie was successful with the little male sucking on the bottle nipple, she was hoping that Vic was being as successful finding the mother.

Cocoa went back to kitty city. Mischief was asleep.

Good, I don’t need to hear a word from Miss Grumpy-butt right now, she thought to herself. She jumped up on the plush white window perch where the sun was shining in. As she curled up in the warm sunshine, her short tabby tail barely covering her feet, a thought crossed her mind…what was that weird noise she heard right before all the excitement? How did it go?… Oh ya weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepot.

Vic was looking everywhere he could think of trying to find the mama kitty. He had been all the way around the house twice. He even looked under things that he knew she could never get under. After putting the little tabby kitten in a nice furry blanket bed, Val went out to see if she could help Victor. She knew she could only be gone a few minutes, but she could at least see if he had had any luck.

Victor looked stressed, I’ve looked everywhere, Val, I can’t figure out where she would go! And what was the kitten doing laying in the mud? She would have tried to find someplace dry to have her baby, not in a muddy flower garden.

Then it hit him, he went back to where he found the kitten, looked up, and sure enough he saw a tail. "Val, go get me a ladder, hurry! I think I found her!" Val ran to the garage and opened the door.

As she was trying to run across the road, she yelled, Is she alright?

I can’t tell from down here, but her tail isn’t moving. Victor was worried as he crawled up the ladder and onto the tile roof.

"Be careful, Vic, I don’t need you in the hospital too!

The tile roof was still slick from the rain. Spinning his NASCAR cap around backwards so he could see better, Vic wriggled his way up under the eve where