● Batty Cat

Sometimes angels come to us as cats.

Sometimes Faerie Goddess Mothers come to us as big hearted humans.

This is one story in one garden. Reality is a weaving together of many threads and strands.
When they come together just right, a story of beauty comes from the loom.

Excerpts from: ITTY BITTY BATTY CAT

This story is a Faerie Tale based on events that happened in Reality

Selections from Chapter One:

Lost in reverie, carefully hidden by the fence just outside the magic garden, the lost kitten was dreaming about what it would be like to be part of this colourful crew when all of a sudden she was pounced upon. Pinned down with her face to the ground, she could not see her strong attacker. Usually watchful, she had let her daydreams drop her guard and now she was in trouble. Trembling, she made herself as small as possible hoping she would not look like a tasty meal. If patient, she might eventually be able to slip out from beneath her captor when he tired and run like the wind towards safety through the tiny hole under the porch. She vowed to herself that if she escaped, she would never allow herself to be caught again.

“Ah ha! While you were watching the cats on the other side of the fence, I was watching you! You had better be more careful my little friend.”

Her captor eased his grip on her just a little and she was able to spin around and see beyond the ground. She was looking into the merry green-gold eyes of a young black and white cat about a winter season older than herself.

“Let me go!” she hissed at him and began to struggle wildly.

“I will let you go if you promise not to run away from me.” he replied.

“Why should I trust you? You just trapped me rudely.” she cried, desperate for her freedom from this stranger.

“I just wanted to show you to be more careful,” he said logically. “I want you to be my friend.”

She paused in her struggles and really looked at him. He was very handsome. His black fur was sleek and shining with health. He had four white boots, a white ruff like a medieval jabot at his neck and a tidy white moustache.

His grip was still firm but now she felt a tenderness in his paws.
He continued to speak calmly to her; “I have been watching you for days now. You are very brave to be out in the world. I admire you. And I have been worried for you.”

She asked him; “Where is your home, your territory?”

“You have been staring at it! Those cats on the other side of the fence are my mother, my sisters and my great aunt. But I am tired of how they treat me like a little kid. Just because they are five moons older than me, Whipper and Willow think they know ev-er-y-thing.”

“You live in that magical garden?” she asked in awe and with a little bit of jealousy.

“Yup, that’s my home.” he said matter of factly, then continued  “You have been getting thinner and I don’t think that’s a good thing. My humans are kind and I thought maybe they might help you.”

She felt tears welling up in her eyes and a lump in her throat. Ever since she had lost her family, no one had shown her any kindness or concern and now this young cat wanted to help her. It was almost more than she could allow herself to wish or hope. She didn’t say anything.

“Well, don’t you need some help?” he inquired.

Still, she could not speak but she lay softer in his paws.

“You could sleep in the big chair on the porch at night instead of the cold ground under it. And you can drink from the birdbath. The garden has lots and lots of bugs and moths. We all love to jump and try to catch them. It’s a great game. But I have seen how good you are, so quiet and quick. You are awesome!”

She took a deep breath then let it out slowly.

“You have to promise that if I let you go, you won’t run away from me,” he urged.

Overwhelmed by hopeful thoughts of comfort and companionship she promised him that she wouldn’t run away. He slowly eased his hold on her and she sprang out from his paws and began to run.

“Remember your promise!’ he called to her and she stopped under a nearby plank of wood and looked out at him.

When he was sure that she had indeed stopped her flight and was watching him, he bowed to her with a dramatic flourish of his right front paw; “My name is Flynn, at your service sweet damsel”

The little Baby cat was surprised to find herself smiling for the first time since she had lost her home. She answered shyly  “Very pleased to meet you Flynn.” Then blushed to the tips of her toes.

“You know, I am named after a famous actor, a real swashbuckling hero. He played Robin Hood and a pirate king and came to the rescue of beautiful ladies in distress.”

“Am I your damsel in distress?” she asked.

“I would want to help you even if my name was Boots instead of Flynn.”

“I have been so very lonely. I do need a friend. You are the answer to one of my wishes. And I’m sure you must be even more handsome than that actor.”  Then softly she whispered “And your heart is real.”

It was Flynn’s turn to blush and he found himself speechless for the first time in his life.

Suddenly, disaster struck as a huge dog came crashing towards them.

RRRRUF, RRRRRRUFF, RRRRRRRUFFF!

It was the big black dog from the yard next door to the two young boys. His humans had just let him out and he was very angry at these two feline intruders by the fence in his yard.

 RRRUFFF, RRRRUFFF, RRUFFF, RUFF, RUFF, RUFF, RUFF!

Baby cat leapt about three feet straight up into the air, her fur raised all along her spine. She had never met this mean dog before.

GRRRRRR, RRRUFFF, GRRRRRUFFF…

He had her trapped in the corner of the fence and was blocking the small opening she had come through from the boy’s yard. He was enjoying tormenting the little stray cat.

In a heartbeat Flynn jumped between the dog and Baby cat.

Hissssss, hissss, hhhisssss…

The dog turned his attention from Baby cat to Flynn.

“Quick, climb up the lilac tree.” he commanded and without hesitating she jumped, caught the low branch, ran along it to the main trunk and in a flash was out of the dog’s reach.

“GGGGRRRRRR…now you’ve made me really angry” the dog growled at Flynn.

One of Flynn’s favorite games was to tease this big dog. He called him ‘slow poke’ and would race along on the other side of the fence just beyond the dog’s reach. “See how fast cats are? How clever? Dogs are all noise. You are clumsy and awkward. You have no elegance.”  Flynn was beginning to regret he had ever taunted this huge dog.  

“GGGGRRURR…now you won’t purr my little friend. You are not so fast trapped in this corner of my yard. You aren’t so very clever to be stuck here,” he rumbled in his deepest voice. He was beginning to enjoy this turn of events and moved menacingly closer to Flynn with his teeth bared. The dog’s anger pressed down upon Flynn and his senses were almost overcome by the ripe smell of dog fur and rasping breath. Flynn held his breath as long as he could, taking only short gasps of the oppressive air when his lungs were almost empty.

The Baby cat had reached the top of the fence, which was the main squirrel highway through the several yards. She could see Flynn below her cornered by the dog. Her new friend had saved her and now she had to think fast to help him out of this dangerous predicament. She needed a diversion. Without hesitating, she slid down the side of the fence then yowling and hissing she jumped on his back alighting there but for a split second. She used his back like a springboard to propel herself back onto the lilac branch.

As soon as Flynn saw Baby coming down the fence, he was ready to leap. The dog howled at the sharp claws in his back and swung around to bite this intruder. The spell was broken, the dog’s attention was taken from Flynn who was now free to turn around and quickly scale the fence behind him.

They met on the top of the fence and looked down together at the infuriated dog who rammed the fence and stood up on his hind legs in an attempt to reach the cats. “WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, just you wait you scabby cats. I’ll get you next time. GGGRRRWOOF.”

Flynn and Baby looked at each other and burst into laughter. They ran along the fence and descended to the safety of Flynn’s yard. There they collapsed in a heap of hysterical giggles, the spooky kind of laughter like when you have just escaped from a dark danger.

Selections from Chapter Two:

She watched the mother robin rise into the air with a worm held firmly in her beak. She realized how hungry she was as sharp pains cramped her stomach at the thought of food.  She settled down to the task of watching for moths and beetles.

“Excusez-moi” a voice broke through her concentration. She whipped her head in all directions but could not see its owner.

“Pardonez-moi, petite chat Bebe” The voice seemed to come from all around her. She crouched even lower.

“Who are you? Where are you? Why are you trying to frighten me?” The questions slipped quickly out of Baby as she spun around looking to see if she was in danger.

 “C’est moi, ma petite. Le buisson… le… ‘bush’ …ta cachette. Where you hide. Tu es sous mes branches!” the voice sounded like a whisper on the wind and swirled all around Baby. She decided it was a kind voice.

“I have never heard a bush talk before. Are you a magical bush?” Baby inquired politely.

“Je suis un lilas francais…” The lovely voice caressed Baby with warmth and beauty.

“I thought you must be a very special lilac. Am I hurting you? or bothering you?” asked Baby. “I need to hide”.

“Non, non, non… tu es gentil. J’aime la compaignie, I like you, ” the lilac answered merrily.

 “Lilac is my lucky flower.”  Baby thought out loud.

“Bebe, ai tu faim?” Lilas asked.

“Am I hungry…I think I will faint if I don’t have some food soon.” Baby answered.

“Bon, parce-que je sais ou trouver un petit dejeuner special. Les escargots.”  Lilas told Baby.

“I have never eaten snails for breakfast.” Baby replied incredulously.

“Mais tu dois dit merci.” Lilas cautioned.

“I will thank the spirit of the snail and the life of this magnificent garden.” Baby assured Lilas.

___________________________________________________

 “Saute, saute, plie… tournez, tournez, tournez, pas de bourree…oh hi…you must be Flynn’s friend. I’m Whipper, his big sister. Welcome to the garden.” Baby watched as Whipper whirled towards her then stumble over a root.

“Thank you Whipper.” Baby said with deep appreciation. “You are a graceful dancer.” Whipper smiled and settled her back paws in first position.

“I love to dance,” replied Whipper stretching first her left back leg and then her right back leg. “I go to the studio whenever the lady of the house is there stretching and practicing her dance steps. I watch and try the moves myself. Just yesterday the lady was starting yoga and…’

Flynn interrupted Whipper; “Baby is graceful leaping from tree to fence and escaping a dog at the same time!”

Whipper blinked then continued matter of factly; “You know Baby, I was the first of my litter to come out of the den and the first to venture out of the studio room into the hall to explore.” She wanted to show Baby that she was brave too.

Flynn burst out laughing; “And the first and only one to fall down the stairs and land on your head!”

“Oh Whipper that must have been awful. Did you hurt yourself?” Baby asked just as Whipper was about to pounce on Flynn. She stopped in mid leap but scowled at her brother then answered Baby. “I fainted and got very sleepy. The lady called Dr. Vet and stayed with me the rest of the day. But I’m fine now.”

Flynn made a face like she was crazy. 

“Now, I can fly up and down the stairs two at a time,” continued Whipper.
__________________________________________________
“He’s going to be very angry. I don’t want to be around when he finds out. You know he’s going to be extremely annoyed. And he’s the big boss of the garden, not Flynn. I can just hear him and I don’t blame him. ‘Five cats! Five cats are too much! I won’t let her keep another I won’t have six!’  He’ll say. He won’t let a stray, stay. He’s gonna’ yell and chase her away. ‘Not another cat! Not another cat!’ he’ll say.”

“Whipper ‘n Willow looked at each other. ’This is going to be very amusing…’ you could almost hear them say.

“Hello, Friday. He’s not going to see her. She will hide during the day and wait till all the lights are out before she sleeps on the porch at night,” answered Flynn.

“I used to be the only one. I got all the patting and stroking from the humans of the house. I would flop down and roll onto my back and all the humans would laugh and stroke my belly. ‘The Friday Flop’ they called my trick. Now they have too many cats to notice all my fantastic flops. I won’t share them with yet another cat. The boss won’t allow another cat to stay and I won’t either.” Friday continued her rant.

From the other side of the grass, Friday limped over and sat down beside Wink who turned to her and spoke; “ Friday, Friday, calm down. I know you have a kind heart. You welcomed me when I was a kitten. And you would worry about Baby if we kicked her out of the garden. You know you wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

“I shared my humans with you Wink and a year later there were kittens all over the house. I could barely get noticed any more. Sometimes they even forgot to feed me.” Friday answered crossly.

“But you told me how lonely you were for another cat and you had to take all the teasing from The Boy before I arrived. And you were never in any danger of starving, like Baby is now” said Wink.

Baby was starting to worry. Maybe she would have to leave her new friends and the safety of the garden. A little sob escaped her lips before she could stop it.

Flynn made the introduction. “Baby, this is Friday, my aunt. She is old now and gets crotchety at times. She is really a lot of fun and can tell great stories from years back about the humans of our house. She was almost a lost kitten herself when she was young, weren’t you Friday.” Flynn said pointedly.

Friday sniffed at the memory of losing her humans for a week when she was five moons old.

Wink reassured Baby; “Don’t let her scare you. Friday loves The Boss but she is also scared of him.” She turned to look Friday in the eye;” She won’t give you away, Baby…You won’t, will you Friday.” said Wink sternly.

Friday came out of her daydream about being a lost kitten and choked back a tear. “I’m sorry Baby, I do know how hard it is when you get lost. I won’t give you away to The Boss.” and with that she started to limp away to warm herself in the sun. “But The Boss is going to wonder what’s going on if he comes out of the house right now. You better scatter.” she cautioned as she left them in the shade of Lilas.

Selections from Chapter Three:

And then Flynn got very quiet. He realized that Friday was right. The Boss would never allow Baby to live here. They both knew in that moment that the tiny flicker of hope that this could be Baby’s home was in vain. A new cat could throw off all the routines and make things complicated.

They turned and looked deeply into sad but loving eyes, each a mirror of their feelings for each other.

“Only Whippers can whip around says she,
Only Whippers can whip around like me!
Whip in! Whip out! Whip all about!
Whip here, whip there, whip everywhere
Only Whippers can whip  (pause) Hey! …don’t stare!”

Whipper interrupted her song and dance when she noticed Flynn and Baby watching her. She ran towards them bumping her head on a deck chair as she made her way across the patio.

Flynn covered Baby and hissed at his sister to be quiet and not attract The Boss’s attention to their grassy hideout.

“Big news! Big news! And you heard it here!” Whipper chanted.

_______________________________________________________

She looked over at her lilac friend just as The Boss was walking behind. Lilas stretched her branches as far as she could; she fluffed out her leaves and moved them just right so the sunlight would fall on them. Lilas seemed to shimmer as he passed by. At the same time, Baby could just hear a gentle ‘Oui, c’est bon. Il est un homme energique…bon, tres bon…”

“Why Lilas loves The Boss!” Baby thought to herself with wonder.

As she watched The Boss walk around the garden, each plant stood a little taller, shone a little brighter. The orange tiger lilies were luscious, the colours of the dolphiniums was a rainbow of blue from sapphire, to marine to azure and midnight indigo. The red roses blushed a little deeper, the poppies swirled their flamenco skirts in time with the breeze, the tinkle and chime of foxglove bells could be heard on the breeze, even the hostas stretched and opened wider. As she watched transfixed it was like waves of vibrant energy swirling between The Boss and all the plants of the garden. Each flower wanted him to notice her.

Just then Flynn quietly slipped in amongst the swaying sighing grasses and lay down beside her. “The Lady says he has green thumbs, green toes and green ears. The Boss is an awesome gardener.”

“Is that why this garden is so magical?”

“The Lady says he holds a deep memory of the Land of Eden.”

_______________________________________________________
 

Baby was amazed to learn so much about the surrounding dogs. “So all dogs are different just like all cats are unique?”

“I declare, and like all trees and plants are never exactly the same…and yet the same life energy…oh boy…here come Whipper and Willow…ooo, that tickles darlin’…stop, no don’t…oh, just behind that lower branch…yes, that’s it…ummmmm”

“Flynn, don’t you find that amazing, a marvelous mystery? Everyone so different, so unique and yet it’s same life force…” she paused; she couldn’t quite find the words to express her wonder.

“I love the way you are.” And he started to clean between her ears. “But stop talking to plants for a while.”

“I was faster, admit it Whipper! I can jump farther than you.” Willow argued.

“But I was daintier in her branches and I got all the way to the end of that narrow branch. I am a dancer you know.” Whipper countered.

“Dancer, prancer. You are afraid to dance in front of a real audience.” Willow replied.

“Willow! You are the fraidy cat. I’m a star. And I have one to prove it. Right here on my forehead.” But Whipper knew her sister was right. She loved to dance but would freeze up in fear if anyone watched her.

Selections from Chapter Five:

Flynn nudged Baby to keep moving but she had stopped and was listening to something. “What do you hear Baby? We shouldn’t allow you to be seen.”

“These lovely little blue flowers.” She told him. “Hundreds of soft voices singing together in chorus. It’s charming to hear. Try to hear them Flynn.”

“What, is that someone calling my mother?” He was perplexed but he convinced her to move through the periwinkle patch and sit protected in the underbrush of the wooded area near the fence.

“Wink, wink, wink…and then the whole patch was singing a round as other voices started peri, peri, wink, wink…”

“It’s as if I hear what they look like.” She thought out loud.

“What are they singing about?” He inquired.

“Peri, peri, wink, wink..tree, tree, tree.” A third group of voices joined the chorus in a three part round.

“I think they are singing to the trees. They love the trees.” She exclaimed.

“Uhhm, uhmm…’scuse me little gray cat…I know why they are singing…” An old voice spoke to her.
“Chee, chee, chee…I got here first, chee, chee, Chee She don’t chee, chee, cheat!”

“Chee, hee, hee He…can’t even catch my knee, tee, hee, hee, hee.”

Chee She and Chee He had arrived at the swing in a fluster and flurry, a scamper and a skitter. They chased each other three times around the tree trunk, then high amongst the branches.

Flynn commented. “They could take turns on the swing but they never do.”

The two bushy tailed squirrels then both leapt at the swing from two different directions. It swung wildly back and forth almost hitting first one then the other on the head.

“Hey, hey, hey, hee, chee chee Chee He…no way to be, he, he.”

“See, see, see, me, Chee chee Chee She…no bully bully be to me, me, me.”

And they sat on their hind legs chee arguing.

“Chee chee chee chee fee fee fie fee.”

“Chee chee chee chee, fie fiddle dee dee.”

Baby burst out giggling. “Look! They ran back up the tree, tree, tree.”

“Stop it! I can’t kee-ee-ee-eep quiet!” laughed Flynn.

Chee He and Chee She stopped in their tracks, looked at the cats, looked at each other and leapt at the same moment. The cats held their breath as they followed the arch of the two jumps flying through the air. Babump, bathump. They landed from the same direction and although the swing went wild, it flew in one direction then the other smoothly so the squirrels rode the exciting carnival ride together.

“Wee, wee, wee, wee…chee chee Chee He”

“Si si si si chee chee Chee She.”

“Way to be be be! Now! up the tree. Lets flee flee flee” They chittered and skittered up and away.

Flynn was grinning ear to ear. He couldn’t have wished for a more amusing squirrel episode to share with Baby who was still giggling with complete merriment.