Realistic tabby cat licking its raised paw beside a curtain, wicker basket, wood floor, and collar tag.

Tabby Cat Washing by the Curtain

A collared tabby pauses on the wood floor, licking one lifted paw beside a hanging curtain and small wicker basket.

🎨 How to color it

Color the tabby’s striped fur in sandy beige and soft brown, the collar in teal, the round tag in brass yellow, and the curtain in pale blue. Use sharp colored pencils for the many short fur strokes, following the direction of each stripe so the coat looks layered instead of flat. Add a faint warm shadow under the curled tail and paws to make the quiet corner feel sunlit.

The story behind this coloring page

Rue’s Secret Paw Game — Under the laundry-room table, Rue invented Three Soft Steps: tap the rug, tap the floorboard, tap the curtain hem, then bring back the tiniest speck of dust on one paw. Read the full story →

Under the laundry-room table, Rue invented Three Soft Steps: tap the rug, tap the floorboard, tap the curtain hem, then bring back the tiniest speck of dust on one paw. The room smelled of soap flakes and sun-warmed cotton, and the wicker basket made a little creak whenever the house breathed. Rue wanted a perfect dust speck before the afternoon light slid away.

On the third round, something gray shivered near the curtain. A moth lay there, powdery wings stuck to a wet spot by the baseboard. Rue stepped off the rug, though the floor felt cool as rain on his pads. He gave up his winning dust speck and nudged dry curtain lint around the moth like a soft nest. “There,” he whispered.

The moth rested, then lifted with one silent flutter and left a shimmer on Rue’s paw. He licked it carefully, not to clean it away, but to remember the tickle. Next time you see his raised paw by the curtain, can you spot the game he never told anyone he won?