BS: a nice little story

Subject: BS: a nice little story
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 11:52 AM

There's so much bad news in the world, I thought I'd share this small true story.

Laet night I had a terrible nightmare. I was a girl again, and there was a strange man, murderer, in my basement. I was standing by the basement door, trying to scream to my father for help, but my screams were thin and strangled. My heart pounded in terror. I tried again, and only tiny sounds came out.

After my third attempt, I felt a little triangular touch on my cheek. It was my cat. She had heard my little screams, and she had come up to touch noses the way cats do with one another. She woke me from the nightmare, and I have never been so grateful to be touched by a pet before.

"Good kitty," I murmured, and went back to sleep, this time sans nightmares.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: jeffp
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 01:17 PM

Cats are good critters. They often seem to know when you need them. Of course, they're also often a pain in the behind, but that's just how it is. A cat's a cat and that's that.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 01:19 PM

Nice story. My cat scratched his paw across my face as I slept and when I jumped in terror, he rolled into my warm spot.Go figure...

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 01:20 PM

Guest Leeneia...perhaps you could expand your story a little for the sake of artistic licence and maybe make it into a short story on the Mudcat writers thread.
Suggest just starting with 'I was a girl again' then going through the nightmare in great detail...finishing it with the revelation that it was all a dream as per your last large paragraph. Could be a good short story.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 01:21 PM

The thread is called 'The Writers Corner'

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Becca72
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 02:05 PM

They are wonderful critters. I was recently watching something on the Dog Whisperer..a sad story about a little boy who's dog died and he was asking for help finding another..very touching. I'm someone who will cry at a phone company commercial, so of course I started bawling. Very soon after, I had all three of my boys in my lap, looking very concerned.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 02:27 PM

Maybe our scent changes with the fear in a nightmare - like the cat in the old folks' home who would announce who was going to die.

Nice story!

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Amos
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 02:32 PM

SInsull's wearing her "hard-boiled cynical exterior" a few too many hours of the day. So the cat was responding to that outer shell instead of the big, sloppy, warm-hearted goof within. Maybe she was just teaching you a lesson, SINS!



A

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Mooh
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 02:37 PM

I like your story.

Watching the kids grow and mature I've often wondered if we don't breed or condition some basic instincts out of them that the pets maintain. No case in point, just that we seem to work on an instictive level as children.

Anyway, my dogs have always known when something is wrong. A change in mood is all it takes for them to react/behave/respond differently, always appropriate to the moment. Grief, joy, illness...they never need to be told, they just respond.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 02:55 PM

Sometimes our night cries are loud to us, in the dream, but just mewling murmurs in reality because we are so asleep we're half paralyzed. You must have sounded just like a kitten in distress.

Good kitty!

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 04:02 PM

Great story, leeneia. Thanks for sharing. My cats and dog are like that, too. As Mooh says, they always know.

You mean like this, Georgian? From the 100 words only story thread:

Silently, unbidden he joined her on the bed, brushing softly against her back, coming round to whisper in her ear, making promises. Promises of never parting; lying in a green meadow; soft winds lightly scented with roses; and the soothing splash of a rill. A summer's day spent together in eternity.

Turning, she stroked him, languidly, murmuring lovesongs in his ear. He gazed at her with sea green eyes. His low voice caressed her in return, filling her with warmth, contentment, undying love. As soon as he'd purred her to sleep he began his nightly bathing ritual: right paw first...

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 04:12 PM

No - that was a true story. I wore the scratch for about a week. My cats are horrible. The more I spoil them the worse they are. Ask anyone who has met them.

On the other hand, if I am down or ill one of them is always by my side very concerned and comforting.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Helen
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 04:43 PM

See the last paragraph

Lions Save African Girl From Abductors

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa (search).

She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said.

"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said.

"If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage," he said.

Tilahun Kassa, a local government official who corroborated Wondimu's version of the events, said one of the men had wanted to marry the girl against her wishes.

"Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people," Wondimu said.

Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the girl may have survived because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn't eat her," Williams said.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 06:47 PM

I love your story, kat. Have you ever thought of writing romance novels?

I believe my cat heard me making small cries of distress and tried to find out why. I can picture a mother cat doing that with a kitten.

As for the smell of fear, that seems likely too. Trouble is, Herself is a real coward. I think that if she sensed I was afraid, she would be afraid too. And her response to fear is to hide somewhere.

Nonetheless, she is a delightful cat, and I was so glad to be awakened by her. There are few feelings as wonderful as the calm that descends upon awakening from a nightmare and realizing that everything is actually all right.

Sinsull, what's the name of that cat that scratched you and stole your spot - Machiavelli? You could call him Prince for short.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 06:53 PM

I love that story too Kat and it really sort of got me going until I realised.....Oh well, what the heck!

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Gurney
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 07:22 PM

We had a cat who always knew when you were sad or ill, and would sit with you until you were better. Weeks, sometimes.
He was gentlemanly, for a cat, but he was the top cat in the area, by the expedient of pinning an opponent to the groung with a fistful of claws in the skull and giving it a close-quarter growling, removing the claws (snick-snick-snick-snap) and strolling unconcernedly away.

A grey tabby domestic, but raised with siamese, which may have contributed to his eccentricity.

When our current cat wants to wake us, he jumps onto the TV cabinet and shifts his weight to make the cabinet creak. A big lad.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 07:38 PM

I can just see our Trystan being so like your big boy, Gurney. makes me smile as that's the same way he is!

Thanks, Georgian...hope you didn't get too excited.:-)

leeneia, thank you! I have thought about writing them, yes, but by page two I usually think they are so silly I cannot finish. I may have to rethink that as it's been a long time since I tried and I know there is a huge, profitable market for them.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 11:51 AM

A very huge market, kat. Years ago I was vaguely acquainted with two people who wrote the most generic sorts of romance novels. One was an alcoholic sixtyish fellow who wrote nurse-doctor romances under a female pen name. The other was a sophisticated middle aged lady poet who made a fortune writing the exotic locale/heaving bosom/orgasmic kiss type of romance. Both were very well off.

I think if you threw a few fabulous cats into an exotic locale/nurse & doctor novel, you'd have a real winner.

Cats are real individuals. I've had cats as kind as leeneia's and Gurney's, and one cat who was so mean the other cats only relaxed after she was dead for a week, and I had nightmare's of her coming back from the dead.

She used to sit atop the fridge and glare with huge yellow eyes at guests, and not only did she abandon her kittens a day after birth, but would sit looking into their bedbox hissing and growling at the poor mewing things. The vet could find nothing wrong with her, mammarily speaking. I managed to keep three of the five alive by feeding them dilute yogurt (one couldn't get cat milk in those days).

One of them lived for eighteen years, including surviving distemper, getting lost in the busiest traffic area of the city after a move, five apartment changes including a move to a rural paradise where he became an avid hunter. One of my favourite cats, a lovely white-speckled black fellow with a head the shape of those you see on cats in pre-eighteenth century paintings, small eared and flattish.

Oh dear, now I'm cat-rambling.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 12:38 PM

I love it when you cat-ramble, Bee and/or any of the rest of you! Thanks for the encouragement. I have often thought I should try to get some romance novels done and published. Maybe I'll see what I cna come up with cats specifically a part of them.:-)

My cats have been writers in the past, too. A certain series of Thought for the Day threads were written by them, starting with This one by the dear, departed Ms. Kelpie. The rest of that week, Charlee & Kazell - the Beige Brothers, Ms. Lovee, Heyokah, and Trystan all took turns. Hmmm...the only one left is Trys.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 12:57 PM

Ah, cat writings! Snowball keeps trying to type for me, but he does a poor job of it, having paws the size of a small dog. He keeps growing in an alarming manner - I'm nervous he's some kind of fairytale cat that will turn out house sized, or eat the neighbour's Saint Bernard or something. Of course, a lot of him is fur.

At the same time I had the speckled cat, I also had his dad, a large and gentle tuxedo who was too intelligent for his own good - always over-thought situations, hesitated too long and made the wrong decisions. Brought a full grown raccoon home as a friend once. Moving was stressful for him. he didn't like being in the dark, so he would stick his head up out of the box, look out the car window, and immediately go cross-eyed, his gums would turn pale, he'd begin to pant raggedly, and then sort of 'faint' back into the box. Ten minutes later, up the head would come again...

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 02:51 PM

I told my neighbours cat I would teach it to talk....in proper 'Queens English'......It actually replied quite clearly:-....







"ME....how"?

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 03:06 PM

LOL, at the both of you!

Bee, when we moved back to the West, in an old van with our youngest daughter, then a teen, we also had one big old dog, six birds, and seven cats. Some cats stayed in their carriers all during the drive but for when we stopped at night, others had to be together in the big dog kennel the dog didn't use in which I'd hung a hammock made out of old jeans with a covered litter box underneath on the floor of it (think BIG dog crate) and then there was Ms. Kelpie. She was so sensible and curious, all she wanted to do was sit on a pillow, on my arm, and watch the world go by. She didn't even get scared when we were sandwiched in by big semis on both sides and front and back while going around Chicago. She was fascinated by it all. Oh, and we also had a turtle!

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 05:19 PM

Oh good Lord, kat, I'd have been certifiable with that many critters on a long move!

Worst cat move I ever had was a short one, just a few km. Three cats, one boyfriend, and a rented 3 ton truck boyfriend thought he could drive as handily as he did his motorcycle. House I was regretfully moving out of was a lovely old place with a huge dying oak right next the drive. Boyfriend managed to glide the truck under the monster live branch that overhung the drive, reasoning the truck would be weighted and therefore lower on the way out.

I had the three unhappy cats in cardboard boxes in the cab of the truck, and it was dark by the time we were ready to haul out. Of course, going down the drive caused the truck to brush hard against the branch, which promptly detached from its trunk, crashing on the cab roof with a mighty sound of crackling and crunching as it took out the riding lights, broke the windshield, and crushed the roof almost down to the steering wheel. I took the now yowling with terror kitties back indoors and had to wake the neighbour (at ten o'clock at night) and ask to borrow a chainsaw. He was quite suspicious until I urged him to look out his window at the disaster area.

Meanwhile, the landlady, a sensitive lass, was crying her eyes out over the loss of the last live branch on the old oak as we sawed and hacked and hauled. I climbed in the cab, placed my hiking-booted footsies against the roof and gave a good solid kick. Amazingly, the roof sort of spanged back to near normal shape and location, and we actually completed the move that night. Cost us a bit, though, and the cats were nervous for a long, long time.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 06:34 PM

Oh, ye gawds! What an adventure!!

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 08:11 PM

Oedipuss. And if the truth be told he was annoyed at my snoring.

I drove from NYC to Maine with five cats in carriers. At no time were all of them quiet. Howling growling and complaining bitterly. I was so relieved when we finally reached our new home.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: Bee
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 09:16 PM

'Oedipuss' - love the name!

Although calling him in at night (if he goes out) might feel a little odd.

Friends of mine named their reformed barncat 'Mother'. Was fine 'til they moved to town, at which point, a grown man standing outdoors yelling for 'Mother' to come home became just embarassing.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: SINSULL
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 11:02 PM

He's known as Ed, Special Ed.

Subject: RE: BS: a nice little story
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 11:17 PM

I read this wonderful British mystery novels -- the tales of Bill Slider -- the assistant detective has a cat called Oedipus because ...... 'Oedipus who runs the household......' (Ouch) I love these books..........





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