A post for
Literate for a Day
It came as a bit of a shock for Auntie M.
She’d just put out a tin of sardines for her cat, Tiddles when it happened
He pitter-pattered into the kitchen, took a look at his lunch – and instead of meowing – asked her a question
“Can I have Corned Beef Instead, Mummy ?”
Dazed by a state of surprise, she dashed down to the Grocer to get some.
And whilst Tiddles munched on his new lunch – Auntie M phoned Mum
At Home mum picked up the phone “Have you taken your tablets Auntie M ?” Mum asked, sounding concerned
“Look, I’m as sane as the next woman” She replied “Tiddles is Talking!!”
The family was bundled off into the car and made their way to Auntie M’s
By the time we’d arrived, Tiddles was sleeping off his new found dinner in his pet basket. Dad picked up the big furry pussycat and looked at him closely – Tiddles returned the favour – giving Dad one of those looks as if to say “Put one hand too close – you’ll get a paw in the mush!”.”He looks OK to me..” said dad ….” are you sure you didn’t hear the TV?”
“No! He talked I tell you”, Auntie M protested ” just like I’m talking to you now!”
“Barmy!” said Dad
Mum then cut into the conversation -“Now Luv, Don’t talk to Auntie M like that – think of the kids..”
Dad looked at Mum – then at Auntie M then at the Cat – “It’s got to be said…I’ve never heard such…”
The raised voices were broken by my little sister, giggling away happily in her buggy.
“what you need is some fresh air…Auntie M…we’re taking Anne to the park for a ride in her buggy” – she paused – “Do you want to come ?”
“But what about Tiddles ?”
“Your Nephew can look after him…come on, you’ll enjoy it!”
reluctantly , Auntie M went down to the park with the rest of the family
Tiddles jumped on to my lap as I sat on the sofa – he looked up at me and smiled.
Silly old puss. I thought. What have you done to give Auntie a fright ?? Tiddles just sat in my lap, purring away. He seemed to like sitting there.
I turned the Telly on to watch the rest of the Saturday morning cartoons
Up in the clear blue sky was the moon – perfectly round and bright as a button
“Spooky thing is the moon in the day…” I said, Thinking aloud, as I rubbed Tiddles neck…he was purring contently
“I Know!” came the reply
I leapt out of the seat and tiddles went upwards in the air and landed paws first on his cat cushion
“sorry about that…”, he said from the cushion, “but it needed to be said”
And then he explained it – Once every year around the time of the full moon, Tiddles and the other cats in the street could talk – like their owners. However , being the shy retiring type – Tiddles had been building up the courage to talk to Auntie M – and gave her a fright in the kitchen
So instead of talking to Auntie M – Tiddles and I talked…we talked about Cats (Naturally) and Fish and Treats , reasons why balls of wool beat any catnip mouse, what his favourite foods were (certain pet foods just will not do) and the special time when the moon appeared full in the sky.
“I’m going to miss talking like this…” Tiddles sighed “That’s the saddest thing about it”
“Tell you what” I said ” I’ll come and visit you – and you can tell me all about your day when I visit”
“That’ll be nice!” said Tiddles “I Tried talking to that nice Persian Blue next door but I didn’t get anywhere with her…”
Puzzled, I asked the furry pussycat..”Why’s that Tiddles ?”
Tiddles put his paws over his eyes and gave a meow
“She talks foreign!”
