The Author's sincere thanks;
To Mindy ‘The Book Mid-Wife’ for her enthusiastic guidance.
To Martin for his patience with all my quirks along the way.
To my stalwart critic Louise for her honesty and valuable input,
and to my saviour Hannah for rescuing me so often from that terrifyingly
wilful monster, MY COMPUTER.
“Have you ever thought?” said I.
“Thought about what?” said he.
“What it is like to be a travelled
Theatre cat like me.”
“ To be a cat like you?” said he.
“That's what I mean” said I.
“ To tell the truth, it might be fun,
To hear about the things you've done,
So tell me now,” said he.
And so I did,
And this is it,
The tale I told him then,
Of all the things that I had seen,
Of all the places where I'd been,
Of all the years that I had spent,
Along with my owner, wherever she went,
And then I wondered, glancing through,
Would you be interested too?
In this little tale I'm about to unfold,
I was, let me see, about ten weeks old.
It happened one October night,
I woke to find the room alight,
But not a single soul in sight.
Odd…
I looked about and over there,
Her dressing gown flung on a chair,
Familiar perfume filled the air.
So…
I wondered, was it very late,
Ten – or nine – or only eight?
Should I go or should I wait?
Which…
I took a jump down to the floor,
And suddenly, oh joy, I saw
That someone had not closed the door.
Out…
Along the passage quiet and dim,
Obeying an impulsive whim,
I crept, restraining every limb.
Wait…
Around the corner soft crept I,
Beneath the lamps erected high,
To give illusion of the sky.
There…
Behind the scenery I could see,
Lots of faces who would be,
Surprised and pleased at seeing me.
Look…
My owner there with make-up bright,
That I had watched applied that night,
Was sitting there just to the right.
Oh…
I thought she had not noticed me,
Or she'd have pulled me on her knee,
So I put forth a plaintive plea.
No…
I scarcely could believe my eyes,
She never does ignore my cries,
She looked away, I saw her rise.
Horror…
Am I here or still asleep?
I took one final desperate leap,
I crumpled in a shattered heap.
Terror…
Disillusioned, off I went,
With head held low, tail sadly bent,
For what had such behaviour meant?
Misery…
I scarce recall the arms that bore
Me back along the corridor,
Then closed and firmly locked the door.
A lesson.
I shall never forget the very first day,
I went out on a lead, a very short way.
Every few yards
I'd stop to chase
Every small leaf
A-whirl in space.
I would turn and I'd sit, I would pull and I'd cry,
I would clutch at the feet of all who passed by.
I would ignore
A stern command,
I would receive a reprimand.
A walk that had taken two minutes before,
With me on a lead, took ten minutes more.
That day it seemed
Was hard and sad,
This day I walk
And I am glad.