Chicken

Jeb got up to simmer the tomato soup flavoured rice with beans.  He took the rice off the heat and covered it.  Turning around he saw the little devil licking his chicken.  Perfectly oven-baked chicken, until it was put on the table and the cat decided to have a picnic.  He was furious.  He slammed his hand down on the table and the cat bolted.1

Washing the chicken he looked down at the purring cat by his foot.  "Stupid cat," he thought as he scooped some rice onto his plate and then sat down at the table.  The cat look at the chicken, coveting that morsel on the plate, and the man looked at the cat in contempt.  "Baked cat," he thought, "That would make an interesting meal.  Just shove the whole cat in the oven."2

The glaring eyes of the sneaky little beggar bothered him, so he shrank with his food away from the table's edge.  The food and its eater were out of the feline's view now, and the man, smiling, dug into his chicken.3

A light thundering sounded to his left.  He looked to the stairs and saw glaring eyes.  The cat had climbed up the stairs and stopped on the step level with the kitchen table.  Those pleading eyes were staring at the chicken again, so the fellow took a juicy bite, licking his lips, and taunting the cat.  The devil's eyes changed.  As the man looked at the cat through the banister railing supports, he saw a sad animal in a wooden cage.  He saw the Humane Society commercial of the cat with the pleading eyes.  He looked away.  Seeing those eyes was unbearable, and then, he didn't want baked cat any more.4