Evil copy-cat!

This morning when Lady Long Scarf came in to work, I managed to sneak into the secret room with buckets and brushes. This is where Lady Long Scarf (LLS) cleans mommy’s body armours. Mommy says they are called clothes. She soaks them in a bucket of frothy water at night and LLS cleans them in the morning by rubbing a brush over them and then repeatedly dunking them in another bucket of clear water. She then strangles these clothes to squeeze the water out of them and gives them to mommy to hang outside the window on strings. Mommy also puts a lot of colourful and pretty clips on the clothes so that the wind doesn’t blow them away.

Neither mommy nor LLS saw me in the secret bucket room because I was hiding in another empty bucket under the sink. I got out of the bucket when the coast was clear hoping to sneak into mommy’s office bag next. Imagine if mommy carried the bag, with me in it. to work! I could play in mommy’s office all day! But just as I set one pretty paw outside the door, mommy grabbed me by the scruff of my neck. “There you are, you silly little cat! I’ve been looking everywhere for you” she said as she proceeded to clean my eyes and ears like she does every morning. “I see you have discovered the bathroom. Promise me you won’t do poopy there. Please pretty please” she urged as she ran my kitty-comb through my hair.

Once I was ready, she picked me up in her arms just like she picks up human babies who come to our house, and took me back into the bathroom. I saw it from a height for the first time. There were many pretty and colourful bottles arranged on a shelf. I wanted to jump at the shelf and run on it so I could knock the pretty bottles down, but mommy held on to me tight. She then took me to a very scary window. It had another lady with a cat in it. The lady looked just like mommy and the cat was pure evil! She did exactly what I did. When I moved my head, she moved it too. When I clutched onto my mommy in fear, so did she. When raised my paw to scratch the evil copy cat, so did she! Terrified, I looked away and held onto mommy, my claws digging into her neck.

“What’s wrong Fletcher,” mommy asked in her soothing mumma-mumma voice as I buried my face under her chin. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Look, that’s you.” Confused I looked in the direction she was pointing in and saw the same evil copy cat! I was so frightened I immediately snuggled back into mommy’s soft neck, this time taking care not to give her any more claw scars. But mommy gently rubbed my back and proceeded to kiss my head as she held me a little tighter. “Fletcher,” she said after a few seconds, “I want you to look into the mirror. Don’t be afraid.” I looked up at mommy’s face. She gently turned her body so that now both of us were looking into the mirror. She touched the glass with her finger. Evil mommy did the same! I lunged at evil mommy. I couldn’t let her touch my mommy, but evil copy cat was quick and lunged just as I did. I screamed and hid under mommy’s chin again, this time mistakenly clawing her collar. But mommy didn’t scold me. 

She stepped back a bit from the mirror and said, “Fletcher, that’s us. You and me, my little baby. That’s your reflection and that’s mine. It’s like your shadow. Don’t you enjoy chasing my hand’s shadow on the wall? Sometimes you play with your own shadow too, don't you? Well, a shadow is what you get on a wall and a reflection is what you get in a mirror. Look,” she urged me to look into the mirror once more.

There they were again. Our reflections. Mommy’s reflection looked calm and brave and mine looked a little scared. I raised my paw and mommy held me closer to the mirror. Reflection Fletcher did the same. She did not claw or bite me. Mommy was right. It was me. “My brave little kitty,” said mommy and smiled. I love it when mommy smiles. She looks very pretty when she curves her lips like that. I kept looking at mommy’s reflection and raised my paw to touch mommy’s lips. Reflection Fletcher touched reflection mommy’s lips and my fear melted away. Now I'm my brave mommy's brave little kitty.

The day I jumped out of the window

So you must have noticed that I haven't posted in some time. That's because mommy grounded me. See I have been naughty. You all know that I love to sleep. Well, one of my favourite places to sleep is this window railing. This is my mommy's bedroom window and there are a lot of big green trees with pretty birds and squirrels outside.

Mommy doesn't like it when I sit here. She's always scared that I will slip and fall. She often shuts the window to prevent me from falling.

One night when she was fast asleep, I used my nails and paws to open the window a bit. I like the wind in my whiskers. I stayed up to watch a beautiful sunrise. Infact I even bit mommy's toes to wake her up, but the stubborn old woman doesn't wake up till her little black box starts beeping. She says it is called a phone alarm. When she didn't wake up after repeated toe chewing and even elbow biting, I went back to my favourite perch and slid the window open some more. Mommy hangs her clothes to dry outside this window. She uses pretty clips to hold the clothes so that they don't fly away when the wind is strong. I like playing with these clips, so I reached out to grab one. That's when I lost my balance and fell.

I felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole. First mommy's window disappeared, then another window appeared and disappeared and finally I landed on my pretty bums! I discovered I had landed on the awning of the drying area of the family that lived two floors below mommy's home. This was a curious and slightly spooky place. Nobody lives in the apartment under mommy's, so this area had not been cleaned in a century. There was a bird's nest, but it looked abandoned. Dry twigs were strewn around and there were two egg shells in the nest. I couldn't be sure if the little birdies had hatched out of them or if they had become some snake's breakfast before that could happen. A chill ran down my spine. I wanted mommy to hug me and kiss me. She does that whenever I have a bad dream and wake up scared and crying.

There was a ledge that prevented me from sliding down the awning onto the ground floor. I can kitty jump, but not high enough to climb onto this ledge. I realised I was trapped. Because, well, I couldn't climb down into the drying area of the people below me and nobody was going to open the window above me. And mommy's window was way up above me. So I decided to do what little baby kitties do best... cry! I cried and cried hoping mommy could hear me and come and rescue me. I was hungry, scared and tired. That's when I heard the familiar beeping of mommy's alarm. Damn! That thing can wake up the entire neighbourhood!

The first thing mommy does when she wakes up is hold me and plant a million little kisses on my head. She scratches my back and says, "Good morning Fletcher. Mumma loves you." So obviously when she couldn't find me and discovered the window slid open, she realized I had been a bad kitty. She looked out of the window and found me stuck on the awning. She kept saying, "Jump little kitty, jump" to encourage me to jump on to the ledge and jump down to the ground floor. But the ledge was just too high for me. She then tied a few bedsheets and even a pair of her trousers together and lowered them to me. I think she wanted me to grab it so she could pull me up. But I guess I was scared. So I started crying again. Then I got tired and fell asleep.

Mommy decided to find out who had the keys to the appartment under ours. But the building watchmen didn't know. Mommy ran from pillar to post to try and get the keys. She even opened the latch of the front door because it had not been padlocked. However, she couldn't open the door because it had been locked using a deadbolt and could only be opened with the right key. After four hours, mommy found the man who had the key and had the apartment opened. She climbed out of the window and onto the ledge. I don't know why I was so scared, but I felt like hiding and getting away from mommy. I was afraid she would scold me. I think I was also scared that if she held me, she would lose her balance and fall. But mommy grabbed my tail and pulled me to her. She then held me secure in her strong arms and climed back through the window.

Once safe in my kitty corner in our house, mommy gave me kitty food and water. She reminded me of my first fall from the living room window. It was just eight weeks old and couldn't resist jumping on the watchman sitting downstairs. This is the window of my first jump, I sleep here now-a-days:

She didn't scold me. She just playfully slapped my little bums and called me a 'silly cat'! But she is more careful about windows these days. She keeps them shut when I'm in the room. I'm no longer allowed in the bedroom, so I can't sleep on mommy's pillow or bite her when she is sleeping. She has made me a kitty bed with some soft old bedsheets and one of her old T-shirts. I like how the T-shirt has a mumma-mumma fragrance. When I sleep in the kitty bed and bite her T-shirt, I feel like mommy is with me, even if she is at work.

Zzz...

As a pretty-kitty my life is simple. I eat, play, do poopy and sleep. I sleep a lot. I can fall asleep just about anywhere and anytime.

One moment I'm practicing yoga, the next moment I'm fast asleep.

Mommy taught me yoga

I'm such a poser

On a dull news day, you can catch me take a nap on mommy's newspapers. She reads so many different newspapers, I never run out of things to sleep on or tear to shreds. Sometimes I even do poopy on newspapers. This makes mommy angry.

Fire the copy editor

News puts me to sleep

I often fall asleep near mommy's laptop or even on her pillow.

Mommy loves this box of buttons

My favourite spot

It's true, I can sleep wherever I please, whenever I please. Mommy says it's my super power. Maybe I'll grow up to be the world's first caped kitty who fights crime by falling asleep!

Meet my God-papa

Mommy says all babies have a God-papa or a God-mommy. This is a special person who also loves the baby as much as the baby's mommy and daddy.

My God-papa is my mommy's best friend Harry Bunny. No, he isn't actually a bunny. Mommy just calls him that because he is very gentle and loving. He is also very cute. He has dimples and his eyes are always sparkling with some special kind of joy!

He loves me as much as my mommy and loves to play with me. I like it when he lifts me in his strong arms and gives me a ride around the house. It is fun to watch things from that height! I'm really small and can't jump very high. So I had no idea what was on top of mommy's study table till Harry Bunny picked my up and showed me. Harry Bunny also gifted me many pretty toys. These toys make a funny sound when I put my paw on them. They squeek and that funny sound makes me happy.

Sometimes when mommy is sad, she presses some buttons on a small black box. Then she can hear Harry Bunny's voice and talk to him. This makes mommy happy. I like people who make mommy happy. Because when mommy is happy, she loves me more. She holds me, cuddles me and kisses me. I love it when mommy cuddles and kisses me. I love mommy and I love Harry Bunny.

Kimmy is a star!

Recently two of my friends, Princy and Kimmy came to live with mommy and me for a few weeks. Their human mommy was traveling and couldn't take them with her. Here's a picture of Kimmy (the gray cat), Princy (in the middle) and me (the tiny one to the right). Mommy took this when we were chilling on her bed last Sunday.

While Princy taught me how to climb on the window banister, Kimmy was super desciplined. She would sit gracefully in one corner and only get up to eat or do poopy. Everyone loved Kimmy because she never bothered anyone. She did not try to grab the scarf lady's scarf, she did not sneak into the kitchen to hide behind the cooking gas cylinder, she didn't even bite... anyone!

Often mommy would play games with us, but Kimmy never participated. She just ate, slept and did poopy. But two days ago, she stopped eating. She stopped walking around the house, even upto the water bowl that was just a few steps away. She also started breathing heavily. So mommy took her to the doctor. The doctor is this very pretty human lady who also wears very funny body armour. It is long and white. I have met her only twice and both times she poked me with a needle!

Mommy came back after a few hours but Kimmy was not with her. Mommy says Kimmy was very special so she stopped being a cat and became a star. She says Kimmy fell asleep in the doctor's clinic. Then mommy put Kimmy in a basket and took her to her human mommy's house. There they wrapped her in a scarf, dug a ditch in the ground and put Kimmy in it. They covered the ditch with earth, so that another animal wouldn't dig Kimmy out and hurt her. Both human mommies said a prayer and cried a lot. Then they left Kimmy to wake up as a star in the sky.

When mommy finished telling me this, it was dark outside. So she took me to the window and pointed to the sky. "Look Fletcher, that's Kimmy. Look how bright she shines...", said mommy before breaking into tears. Princy saw her too. Kimmy is a beautiful star and we can see her everyday now. We miss you Kimmy. We love you.

Meet my mommy

I have a faint memory of my cat mommy. She was white and furry, just like me. Everyone says I look just like her, especially my baby blue eyes. I remember drinking her milk along with my brothers and sisters. But gradually all of them left and never came back. They were adopted by other parents... non-cat parents. They are called humans and they are very strange.

One day a human lady came for me too. She put me and my toys in a basket and brought me to my new home. My new mommy walks only on her hind legs, does not have fur anywhere other than her head. To keep warm she wears different types of body armours; shirts, trousers, scarves and even wears shoes to cover her back paws! How will she ever get the right kind of grip to climb a wall?

Mommy does not give me milk like my cat mommy used to, but I know that she loves me a lot. Every morning she picks me up in her arms and kisses me. She holds me, hugs me and plays with me for sometime. Then she gives me my kitty food and fresh water. While I munch on my breakfast, she opens the front door and picks up a bunch of papers that somebody leaves at our doorstep everyday. Looking at these papers makes her very happy. Sometimes I join mommy when she looks at page after page, as she sips something hot. I like the sound the pages make when she turns them. Sometimes I feel like clawing the papers, but whenever I do so, I promptly get whacked on my bums!

Morning is also when the lady in the long scarf arrives. She wears a really long scarf and a blouse. While a part of the scarf hangs from her shoulder to her knees, the rest of it is wrapped around her body and pleated at the waist. I like jumping to catch her hanging scarf. I follow her everywhere. You see, I'm her assistant and it is my duty to be at her service at all times. When she sweeps the floor, I chase the dust away. When she cooks, I guard the bin where she puts the vegetable peels. But she never lets me watch what she does to mommy's discarded body armours in the secret room that has buckets, brushes and water. I'm always locked out. I tried sneaking in once when no one was looking, but mommy emptied an entire mug of water on my head. I ran away and never went back to that room. I'm scared of water. I don't like it!

Mommy has another secret room. She goes in there every morning and locks the door. When she comes out, she is cleaner and smells nicer, but is also a little wet. Humans are weird. Why would anyone willingly pour water over themselves and then wipe themselves dry with a soft and pretty rag? What's the point?

After this mommy puts food, paper and a big heavy thing with lots of buttons into her bag. She wears a pretty body armour, gives me some more food and water and leaves. I don't know where she goes because she shuts the door behind her. By the time she comes back home, it is dark outside. She again goes into a her secret room and comes out wiping her wet body. Mommy really loves water. She drinks water, puts it in her food while cooking. She even puts it in the flower pots!

Then she feeds me again and plays with me. After this she does something strange. She starts making a lot of marks with a small stick on plain paper. She says it is called writing and that's her job. She writes something, looks at it and writes something again. Then she starts pressing the buttons on the big heavy thing. She says it's called a laptop. I like the laptop. Sometimes mommy shows me pictures on the laptop. Sometimes the pictures move and make sounds. Mommy really likes looking at these noisy moving pictures.

I just curl up next to her and get busy chewing her pyjama string. If she lies down for a moment I start licking the fur on her head. Somebody's gotta groom the lady! Sometimes I scratch her, sometimes I bite her and promptly get whacked on my bums again!

But sometimes she curls her mouth and it looks pretty. Mommy says it's called a smile. She says people smile when they are happy. Mommy says I make her happy. Sometimes I feel like kissing my mommy. So I touch her nose with mine. But sometimes I want to kiss her eyes. I like my mommy's eyes. So I gently get close to her eyes. But she is clever. She wears a special armour on her eyes. It is transparent so I almost never see it when she is wearing it. Sometimes she takes it off, but it is only when she is sleeping or getting her picture taken. It tried chewing her eye armour. I tried scratching it, even breaking it, but nothing worked. The eye armour keeps coming between mommy and me.

Let me kiss your eyes mommy. I love you too!