Pearl's Perspective

A few years ago, while taking a creative writing course, I wrote a story from my dog's perspective.  I edited and proofread that bugger like my future depended on it. Even non-dog people would love it, I was certain! Especially the course instructor.

"It's good, but nobody wants to read about animal perspectives any more", the instructor commented, "they’re stale prose. Try again…"

Several more pets have come and gone from our lives since that particular dog. 

Pearl, a cat, is our latest.  You guessed it! Pearl is purring with joy to share her perspective about what it’s like to travel back and forth from Atlanta to Florida with her humans, me and Jeff. 

Pearl says:

The 5 1/2 hour drive goes relatively quickly. We leave early in the morning, about 7 a.m. Thankfully, the humans pack a lunch so that there isn’t a long, tiresome wait for me in the car while they waste time in a restaurant. 

But I do wish the lady human would refrain from packing Florida yellowfin confit tuna sandwiches.  The aroma is mouthwatering and I can't have a single bite. She says it will upset my stomach.

She's right about that.

As a matter of fact, I’m not allowed to eat or drink anything in the car.  Zippo.  The lady thinks doing so would make me have to potty.  It doesn’t matter.  I wouldn’t eat or drink anything if they offered it to me.

 Thankfully, the yellowfin confit tuna bouquet dissipates with time and I go back to staring out the front windshield, I love to stare out windows. I do that at home in Atlanta, too. 

When I get tired of looking straight ahead, I look behind me to see if there is anything interesting in that

direction.  There's almost always something interesting.

When we arrive at the beach, I love to perch on one of the ocean facing windows. 

The lady human says there’s a giant kitty litter pan out there that is filled with real sand.  I could do my business in it if I'd like to. But I don’t want to. I’ve seen turtles walking around out there.

As soon as we get settled in, I like to ribbon in and out of the loft banisters. I always decide against jumping all the way down. 

At night, sometimes I venture out for an hour or two.  I mostly just stay on the roof and gaze down at Florida's nocturnal life. One time I did go down to chase a bunny out of the bushes. 

There’s a cat that lives below us named Zooie (not Zoey).  She doesn’t like me that much yet.  We’re not the same age. 

When I'm ready to come back inside, the man human takes me and my food upstairs to my own bedroom. I'm not allowed to roam around the house at night while they're sleeping (sometimes I talk to myself and wake everyone up).

I can see a pool that lights up from the bedroom window. The glow is pretty at night.

Best of all are the sunrises.

Before long I’ll be heading back to Atlanta.  I like it there too.  But the humans say they’re moving soon and that means I’ll be moving too.  One day, I might move to Washington DC to live with my very favorite human, Diana. 

I hope you enjoyed Pearl's Perspective!

Who cares what negative-Nelly instructors say!?  I'm actually reading a great book Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, that shares an octopus' perspective!

Here are some other recent and classic pet perspective books worth checking out and/or revisiting:

The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein

The World According to Bob, James Bowen

Black Beauty, Anna Sewell

Call of the Wild, Jack London

ETC.

Thank you for reading!

Love, Shelley