About a month went by when suddenly we began to see Rover less and less. A new family was moving in next door to us, and they had a dog they called Brutus. My mother said that Brutus' barking must be be scaring Rover away, but that he would probably get used to it and come back. She was right because a few days after our neighbors got settled in, Rover started showing up more often. Everything seemed to be getting back to normal until one day my mother and I heard terrible noises coming from outside. That was the day that Brutus the dog and and Rover the tom cat met. My mother and I ran to the window just in tie to see Rover running down the street with Brutus right on his heels. I ran outside to try to help Rover, but by the time I got outside they were gone, and I had no idea where they had run to. Mother and I waited for an hour or so then we decided to get in the car and drive around the neighborhood to see if we could find them. We had just barely gotten out of the driveway when we heard a very pitiful meow come from the back seat. IT WAS ROVER! He had climbed through the window to get away from Brutus! We scratched him behind the ears and rubbed his fur and made him purr. By the time we were finished Rover had forgotten all about Brutus.
After Rover's close encounter with Brutus we couldn't help but like Brutus even more. We scratched behind his ears every day just to let him know that he was loved. Then, one morning after breakfast we were all sitting on the porch when we heard a terrible BANG! Brutus was in our trash cans, and he had knocked them all over. There was trash scattered all over the ground, and the dog growled at my mother when she tried to shoo him away!
Rover saw the whole thing. Those were HIS trash cans Brutus was invading, and that was HIS mother Brutus was growling at! Rover ran in front of my mother. He arched his back and let out a very low ferocious growl. Brutus took one step toward Rover, and Rover attacked! Rover screamed a cat war cry and jumped on Brutus' back. He dug all four paws in and bit Brutus' ear! Brutus shook and danced, but he could not get Rover off of his back. Then, Rover delivered the defeating blow. He bit Brutus right on his sensitive dog nose! Brutus yelped and darted home. Rover followed behind him just for good measure, then he went back to my mother and rubbed himself against her legs. Mother declared Rover a cat hero.
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