Lady was not a very clever cat. She was getting a little old, she had lost a few teeth and she dribbled a bit. She often forgot things like what she was doing or where she was going.

Lady lived with another cat called Holly in a house with a family of people.

Holly was strong and athletic. She liked to hunt animals in the garden and bring them home, even full grown rabbits sometimes, which she had to drag through her cat flap backwards because they were so big. She would bring in her catch and then sit in the kitchen and meow at the top of her voice until someone came to congratulate her and tell her what a clever cat she had been. Or at least that was how Holly saw it. Her owners didn’t really like her bringing in all the local wild life.

Lady on the other hand never caught anything.

One evening, Lady and Holly’s family were sitting around in the lounge after a nice roast chicken dinner when suddenly they heard a meow from the kitchen.

“Go and see what Holly has caught now, will you?” said Mum.

Sophie sighed and got up from her comfy chair. With her dinner sitting in her belly making her sleepy she didn’t really want to have to bury a small dead creature.

As proud as Holly usually was of her presents, she didn’t always like giving them up so Sophie approached quietly and kept the lights off.

Meow!

Wait, that didn’t sound like Holly. “Lady?”

Meow! Lady sounded very proud of something.

Sophie flicked the light on. “It’s not Holly, Mum, it’s Lady,” she called to the other room. “What have you got there, Lady?”

Meow! Lady batted what she’d caught with her paw and then licked it. It was round and flat; certainly not mouse or a vole or anything like that.

Mum appeared at the door. “What has she caught?”

Sophie moved closer. “I’m not sure, I think it might be a slice of pork.”

Lady picked up her prize in her mouth and tried to keep it away from Sophie but the girl reached over and pulled it away.

“Yep, it’s a slice of pork. And it still has apple sauce and gravy on it.”

Mum laughed. “Well that’s different. She must have stolen it from someone’s bin.” She took the piece of pork from Sophie and threw it away.

“Well done, Lady,” Sophie said, giving her a big cuddle. “What a clever cat you are.”

 

This is a true story. I couldn’t make something this silly up!

***

© 2011 Chrissey Harrison. All rights reserved.