A little boy named Billy was fishing in a creek while his uncle Ruff and old man Toohey worked in a Texas oil field. At the end of the day, the boy starts to head back so they all can go home, but he trips in the woods. That's when he sees a strange-looking striped cat that's singing in the brush. The cat has a black face and red eyes. It asks the boy for water, saying that it has a hole in it that let all its water out. The boy doesn't want to go back to the creek, which has oil in it, and says that Ruff, who delivers water to drillers, could give the cat clean water. The cat says the boy can't tell his uncle because he would shoot him. The boy runs back to the oil rigs and the cat says it will follow him. When he finds Toohey, he asks where Ruff is. Ruff comes and the boy asks to show him the strange cat, but Ruff doesn't want to go into the woods. Billy wants to bring the cat water, but Ruff won't listen to him. The boy starts to cry, but Ruff ignores him. The two men start talking. Ruff says that Toohey shouldn't have let Billy play in the woods because the boy's parents wouldn't like it. Ruff also reveals that he's been agreeing to look after Billy so that he can go off and have extra-marital affairs without his wife getting suspicious. After packing up Toohey's drill for the night, the three of them go home. On their way, they pass a prison. The men ask the prison guard about an escaped convict, and the guard says that they haven't caught him yet, but they aren't worried because they don't think he'll make if far in his uniform and they believe he's been shot. Toohey, Ruff, and Billy continue home. When they drop Toohey off at his house, he suggests that Ruff not bring Billy along anymore because the oil drill will be getting dangerous soon. Then Ruff and Billy go on to Billy's house, where his parents are waiting. Billy cries to his parents and Ruff says it was probably the tabby he saw from the wagon that he wanted to bring home. That night, Billy had a nightmare of the tabby cat stalking him, which woke him up. His mother rushed into his room to comfort him. Ruff came in with a kitten he had in his barn, hoping that it would calm the boy down. Billy asks Ruff if he actually saw the cat, and Ruff lies that he did. Billy cries more and Ruff leaves the room, not realizing that the tabby cat and the escaped prisoner were one in the same.