When We Were Kittens. David Greagg

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СКАЧАТЬ there was an agonised yelp from Woman in the bathroom and Shadow came running out looking really scared. What's wrong? I asked her.

      She sat on the Food Room floor and washed herself frantically. Nothing much, she said.

      Oh yes? What sort of nothing much? I inquired.

      She didn't want to tell me at first, but eventually confessed that Woman was getting out of the bath and she had sunk her claws into Woman, and Woman got a big shock and made a loud noise.

      So this might be your fault then? I asked her.

      What??? she said.

      Typical!

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      Well, today Shadow went one better. Man was having a bath and, as I was walking past the bathroom, I saw my sister jump onto the edge and rub herself up against him. Even though Man was talking to her and stroking her head, I felt I should remind her of our chat about such things.

      I said, Shadow this is NOT a good idea. She ignored me completely; so I went into the Food Room and had a few munchies.

      It wasn't long at all before I heard a Loud Splash!

      Oh dear, I hoped she hadn't scratched Man trying to get out of all that water. Moments later Shadow slipped quietly into the Food Room and started to wash herself.

      Fell into the bath again, did we? I asked.

      Wash, wash, lick, lick.

      I did tell you it wasn't a good idea.

      Lick, lick, wash.

      Well, never mind. Just get yourself tidy then. Maybe Man or Woman will come and dry you.

      I'm fine, thanks, she said, and came to sit next to me. Unbelievably, she was quite dry.

      What happened? I asked. I heard you fall into the bath. You must have got soaked!

      Just my paws and tail, she said. Man helped a bit, too.

      Did you scratch him? I asked.

      Of course she just said: What???

      Very soon Man came out. I rubbed myself up against him. Did she hurt you? I asked him. His lips did that thing when they're pleased and he showed me a very small cut on his back paw.

      Hmm, it seems my sister can fall into a bath full of water and somehow get out again almost dry without shredding the human in the bath. If it had been me I'd have got soaked and Man would have blood all over him.

      I wonder how she does it!

      17

      I've got a bad feeling about today. They're putting lots of stuff in boxes.

      18

      I was right. They stroked our fur, fed us lots of food, talked to us soothingly and then just got into the car and left us! Again! I wish they wouldn't do that.

      We didn't feel like doing anything much except eat and sleep after that, though I sat out the front of the house and stared at the road for a long time. There's no point, my sister told me. You saw how much stuff they took. They'll be gone for days. She sat with me for a while and then went off somewhere. Only Belladonna looked calm and unworried.

      After it got dark, Man With Not Much Fur On His Head came and let himself in and fed us all. Then he sat down on the bed in the TV Room and watched it for a long time. We came and sat with him and he stroked us. I have to say that if our humans HAVE to go away it's very good to have this human in their place. He likes us and we like him and he sleeps here so we feel much safer than we would if he didn't.

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      Man With Not Much Fur On His Head went away next morning but he left lots of munchies in our bowls. It was a boring day but we didn't feel too bad because we thought he'd come back again at night and he did and we did it all again. It's very comforting to have him and we purred at him.

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      It was a lovely day so we played for a while outside.

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      Just waiting now.

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      Still waiting.

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      Still waiting, but Man With Not Much Fur On His Head gave us some lovely food today.

      24

      Our humans are home!!! It feels like they've been away forever. I have really missed them. Man With Not Much Fur On His Head was very attentive and did everything he should have done, but this morning he moved out, so we waited by the front gate. And here they are again. I haven't stopped purring yet! No walk tonight, but that's usual. Man wants us to know that everything's back to normal and we won't try anything adventurous.

      25

      Our humans are still here. I keep dropping into our room and there he is, tapping away at his Picture Box. This is good. Short walk, just to get back into it, and nothing bad happened.

      26

      Tonight's walk was great because Man let me go at my own pace. I only wanted a short walk because I have to stand up on my back paws a lot to smell the flowers, which are brilliant right now. Mmmm!

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      Same as yesterday, only this time Man let me choose which way I wanted to go. It was very exciting to be allowed to choose, so I went around our First Walk but then I crossed the road and had a good explore on the other side.

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      My sister wants to know why she can't choose our walk. I couldn't think of a good reason why not so I said yeah, OK. Where do you want to go? It turned out she wanted the same walk I did, so it made no difference. Shadow didn't see it that way. She said it was better because she got to pick for once and didn't just trail after me all the time. I suppose that's only fair.

      29

      We met some dogs tonight but they were on a leash, so I just sat down with my paws out and guarded the way. My sister just disappeared into thin air. I have no idea how she does it. They can't even smell her which is just weird, because dogs can smell cat from a long way away. We know this because they bark at us even across the road when they can't see us.

      30

      I think we have mice. Shadow has been sitting in front of one of the Food Boxes СКАЧАТЬ