To Be A Cat

Carrot Cake

AFTER THE CHEESE, the Fairweathers gave Barney some home-made carrot cake, cut up really small and placed in a bowl.

Then they sat him down on a warm rug. ‘Oh, look,’ said Rissa’s mum sadly. ‘He’s got scratches all over him.’

‘Mum,’ said Rissa. ‘Can he stay with us?’

‘Of course he can. If he wants to. Can’t he, Robert?’

Rissa’s dad looked over at Barney from an old wooden chair as he played a soft melody on his guitar. ‘You’d be very welcome, so long as you realize that’s not a swimming pool out there.’

Rissa’s mum poured some milk, which Barney lapped up as quickly as he could. It was delicious, and full of thousands of tastes and aromas he’d never known before.

Rissa sat down next to him on the rug, and stroked him. ‘You’re quite lucky to be a cat,’ she told him. ‘Because it means you don’t have to pay too much attention to human beings.’

‘That’s not very cheerful, Rissa,’ said her dad.

‘Well, I know.’ She sighed, and her hand came to a standstill on her friend’s fur. ‘It’s just Barney.’

Her mum opened her sketchbook, started drawing her daughter and the cat with a piece of charcoal. ‘I’m sure there’s an explanation,’ she repeated.

‘I hope the old Barney’s back tomorrow so I can have a best friend again.’

‘Thought you wanted him to be more than that?’

This time Rissa blushed along with Barney.

‘Changed my mind. No boyfriends till I’m at least eighteen! And it won’t be Barney Willow! Anyway, best friends are more important than boyfriends.’

‘One day you’ll realize they can be both,’ her mum said.

Barney looked up at Rissa’s face. She seemed unhappy. And it hurt him to know that he was the cause.

I’m still here.

She stroked his chin. ‘Poor cat. You’re safe now.’

And then her dad started singing a made-up song. He called it ‘A Cat Shanty’.

‘Oh, you’re safe now, cat, so don’t you worry,

Oh, you’re dry and warm and there’s no hurry.

Oh, you might as well stay right here,

For a day, a week, or even a year …’

It was tempting. To stay here, with his best friend and her lovely parents, being fed cheese and carrot cake in the warmth of this barge.

And he certainly was sleepy.

Really sleepy.

Yes. Why not? Why not stay here?

As he stared up at the Fairweathers’ loving, smiling faces he felt himself dissolving into darkness and a deep, deep sleep, in which he saw nothing but a shining green eye, glistening with answers.