Catfish!

Silver awoke late afternoon the next day to a loud rumbling in his belly. Opening one eye and yawning, the tom stretched out his sore legs. Somehow he had made his way further up the shore to a much dryer spot, away from the now calm licking tide. Grumbling, Silver slowly stood up and looked around at his newly discovered home. The beach was actually only a slim lining surrounded by a rocky cliff shore. Jungle could be seen a little further off as well. The island seemed to go on forever. His curiosity was teeming. What could be out there? Where there any other survivors? What was the light he had seen the night before?

Silver took a deep whiff of fresh air. It smelled of sea salt and fish. Fish...food...his belly growled at him again. As much as he wanted to explore this new land, the tom knew food had to come first. Slowly, Silver made his way back down to the water line on still shaky legs and pawed at its surface casually. Thankfully, the cold water from the night before had turned into a warm inviting pool. Silver decided that he had no intention of chilling himself to the bone again for a long while. Now, satisfied with decent fishing conditions, Silver made his way deeper into the water, keeping alert for any movement.

And then, almost as if on cue, there it was. A huge fish that would make an excellent dinner! Silver swiped at the fish eagerly, only to be interrupted by a loud "SQUAK!"  The Shedu jumped back startled at the sudden sound. Looking up into the direction of the high pitched sound, Silver spotted two birds.  "Fish!" One bird screamed obnoxiously. His partner replied with a "Our Fish!" . "Our Fish!" Repeated the first. Silver rolled his eyes "It'll be my fish if I catch it before you!" The birds hackled in an amusing laugh, and then in unison they retorted "We'll see! We'll see!"  With a scowl on his face and his belly yelling louder than ever, Silver tuned out the birds and focused his attention back on the water.

Another fish appeared a short distance away. Silver's scowl was quickly replaced with a grin as he slowly, gingerly made his way forward. Just as he was about to pounce, his paw slipped on something smooth and with a sudden pinch, a bolt of sharp pain shot through his toe. Silver jerked his paw out of the water quickly to find a crab had taken hold of it! The birds, who had apparently stayed around for the show, burst into laughter once more, this time tumbling in the sky as if they were going to fall down in amusement. Silver shook his paw madly until the crab lost hold and was thrown back into the water a short distance away. "The cat can't fish!" cried one bird happily. "I can too fish!" snapped Silver in reply. "But your annoying voices aren't helping." "No fish for the cat!" the birds continued, taking turns in a sing-song voice. "No fish!" "Our fish!""Catfish!"