琼·克雷格黑德·乔治

A lady in a fur coat threw a fighting， hissing cat off a bridge， got back into her car， and sped into the night.

Rachet the cat splashed into the river.

She felt the wetness， and hating it， reached out to claw this enemy. Her paw struck a stick， raked it for a better hold， and she was swimming.

An eddy caught her， swirled her shoreward until she felt stones under her feet and ran out of the water. Shaking her paws， she four-footed it into a woods that edged the river. When she was out of sight of the bridge she stopped， shook herself， and frantically licked the water off her sodden tiger-striped fur. With her forepaw she cleaned her ears of the river water， then her face and whiskers. The bruise on her ribs where the lady had kicked her yesterday had been soothed by the cold water and was no longer throbbing.

When she was almost dry， she crept deeper into the night woods. Rachet， like all cats， found her way in the dark with the rods in her eyes， which could take in the faintest of light， even starlight， and make the night into day. Smelling dryness， she hurried to the fallen leaves under an oak tree and frantically rolled in them. Then shivering with loneliness and fright， she miaowed in her baby voice to bring her mother. There was no answer. Her world has changed.

With her whiskers feeling for obstacles and her nose smelling for living things， she cautiously walked down a well-trodden path. The path held the odor of the red fox， Shifty， but being young and inexperienced， Rachet did not know that red foxes hunted cats. So she followed his path to the edge of the woods.

There she stopped to look for and avoid people. The ones she knew kicked， picked her up by her orange-striped tail， or locked her in a closet without food or water when they went away for several days. She had been a plaything for children. Now， with summer over and the children back in school， the lady had dropped her in the river， hoping she would drown.

But Rachet was a cat. She had survived the kicks and closets and would survive this. With her feet poised to run at the sight of a human， she studied the scenes presented to her. An overgrown field of grasses， goldenrod， milkweed， and ragweed covered the two acres of abandoned farmland that lay in front of her. It was scattered with papers and discarded junk. The field ended at the Roxville railroad station， now under a rising moon. A few people were waiting on a platform for the puffing， whistling diesel trains to take them to the city. The people smelled acrid.

一位身着毛皮大衣的女士，手里抓着一只拼命挣扎、嘶嘶乱叫的猫，从桥上扔了下去。然后她回到车里，快速驶进夜幕。

這只叫作拉齐特的猫咪跌落进河中。

拉齐特感觉到了潮湿的河水，这让她极为反感，就伸出爪子去抓这个敌人。她的爪子碰到了一根木棍，挠了一下，再抓牢，然后开始游泳。

河水一个漩涡打过来，把她冲向岸边。她察觉到了脚下的石头，就从水里跑了出来。拉齐特甩甩爪子，四脚着地，走进了河边的一个树林里。她走到看不见大桥的地方停下来，摇一摇身子，拼命地舔掉身上的水。她的虎纹毛皮都湿透了。拉齐特用前爪弄干净耳朵里的河水，然后是脸上以及胡须上的水。昨天那位女士踢到了她的肋骨，还留有瘀伤，如今冰冷的河水让疼痛有所缓解，不再一扎一扎地疼了。

等身上几乎干了，拉齐特就爬往树林深处。跟其他猫一样，拉齐特在黑暗中用瞳孔看路。猫的瞳孔能接收最微弱的光线，甚至是星光，所以对他们而言黑夜就像白昼一样明亮。拉齐特通过嗅觉找到了干爽的地方——那是一棵橡树下的落叶堆，她急忙跑过去在里面疯狂打滚。拉齐特感到很孤单，也很害怕，浑身颤抖，就用小猫咪的声音叫了几声，想呼唤自己的妈妈。但没有任何回答。拉齐特的世界彻底变样了。

拉齐特用胡须感知路上的障碍，用鼻子搜寻活物，沿着一条已经踏平的小路往前走。这条路上充斥着赤狐希夫蒂的气味。但拉齐特太小，没有经验，不知道赤狐会猎食猫类。所以她沿着赤狐希夫蒂的小路走到了树林边上。

拉齐特在树林边停下来，东张西望，要避开人类。在拉齐特看来，人类踢她，抓着她橙色条纹的尾巴提起她，或者离开家好多天的时候把她锁在壁橱里，却不留食物和水。她不过是小孩子的玩物罢了。现在，夏天结束了，孩子回到学校，那个女士就把她扔进河里，希望淹死她。

但拉齐特是一只猫。她已经熬过了踢打和关壁橱，被抛弃到荒野肯定也能熬过去。她摆好姿势，只要看到人类就可以逃开。她仔细打量着眼前的景象。她面前是一片废弃的农田，大约有两英亩，长满了各种杂草，比如秋麒麟、马利筋、豚草等。到处散落着纸片和废弃的垃圾。这一块荒地一直延伸到罗克斯维尔火车站。此时一轮明月正在火车站上空升起。有几个人待在站台上，正等待会喷气和鸣笛的狄塞尔火车来把他们运到城里去。这些人闻起来有种刺鼻的气味。