The Pounce

As the sun shone on the grasslands and warmed the treeless ground, an ocelot crouched in the tall grass. He moved his paws through the closely clumped-together blades, trying to touch the ground as quietly as possible. He couldn't afford to make even the quietest of sounds. He had a target to pin to the ground and there was no chance he was going to let it get away under his watch. He had promised himself he was going to practice stalking and get better at hunting on his own to prove to himself that he could do it, and he would be as quiet as it took to make that happen. To minimize the rustling of the grass, he used the pads of his paws, moving forward as slowly as he possibly could. He kept his gaze straight ahead of him, his eyes focused on his primary objective and his head completely stationary. He wasn't going to break his concentration under any circumstances. He was going to get this right.

After a few seconds of stalking, he stopped in place. His target was only a few feet ahead of him. His head didn’t move. He moved his shoulders up and down in a bouncing motion, preparing to jump towards it. He leaned his body into the jump, ready to pounce on his target and catch it unaware. He leaped. He landed the jump. However, he put more power into the jump than he had anticipated. The momentum from the jump caused him and his target to quickly launch backward. They tumbled down a hill, unable to slow down or stop. The ocelot refused to let go, keeping a strong hold on his target and tumbling with it. They rolled and rolled until they reached the bottom of the hill and stopped suddenly. The ocelot held his target in place on the ground.

The target, annoyed, wiggled out of the ocelot's grasp, groaned, and said, “Really, Al? Couldn’t you have waited until we were at the bottom of the hill to jump me?” The target, who was, in fact, Al's brother, lifted himself from the ground and shook the dust off of his fur.

“I mean, I could have,” said Al, “but then I’d have to patiently wait until you got down there. You know me and patience.”

“Al, you shouldn't complain about waiting when you're trying to stalk someone. The entire point of stalking is waiting for the perfect time to pounce. If you don't pounce at just the right moment, you'll miss your chance and you won't have any food to eat.”

Al took a second to think about his answer before saying, “That doesn’t mean I want to wait longer than I have to. Especially when it involves tackling you, Jack.”

His brother replied, “You really do need to work on your patience, don't you?”

Al answered, "Perhaps, but for now, we're still kittens. I might as well just have fun while I can, right?"

Jack rolled his eyes and said, "I suppose you have a point, Al."

Al returned, "Besides, I need to practice pouncing, anyway, and you're the perfect subject to practice with. And I still got you. I proved my method works."

Jack said, "You better not do this every day from now on. It'll get really annoying if you do."

Al said, "I can't promise anything."

They laughed about the difficulties of staying as quiet as possible and the ridiculousness of hunting on their own as they walked off together to a nearby forest, eager to find a tall tree to climb. If they were gonna spend the day having fun, they might as well play in the forest and do it together.