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.
