Tiny
Teddy snoozed on in his bed unaware of the drama playing out around
him. For the first time in his life he allowed himself to dream and to
feel safe. Oh this Mctartan family were sooooooo exciting and kind -
especially the junior members.
Clawde thought surely he must
be starving and reduced to adject poverty but his mewing was interrupted
by the harsh if whispurry voice of a ghost saying, "Shut up or you´ll
ruin everything. Your diet worked and mew are no longer morbidly obese,
but on a healthy nutritious diet complimented by regular vigorous
exercise. Mew are very, very rich and very, very famous and must show a
youthful and handsome face, tail and everything in between to your
public. Your designs are worn by royalty and world leaders´ cats,
actresses and authors, all of the rich and famous who don´t design as
well as mew do. So stop bawling and get out there and look prospurrous."
Furnella swore she could hear mewing coming from down the hall.
Arfur asked sleepily, "Is the kitten monitor on, love?"
“Yes, yes, it is“, she tossed in the basket. What a restless night.
Clawdette heard something similar to Clawde and purred happily. The
voice was telling her that she was not only stinking rich but was a
successful interior designer designing homes for the rich and famous who
just couldn’t be bothered going to IKEA themselves. The collar around
her neck was indeed diamonds and she was certainly a size zero. A real
size zero - not one of those ones that Clawde and Arfur made for her
with the ´large´ label taken out. She purred with joy and looked around
her at the palace that made their mansion and Castle Clydula look like a
garden shack. Tabithia shuffled around but wore a proper uniform and
not the dirty old apron she wore at the castle. ´Oooooh I like this
flashback/forward´ she thought happily. ´I think I will stay here´.
Clawdette had reached the village shop with Tiny Teddy and the Old Crone who
worked there was once again pretending to hide but Clawdette reached down behind the counter and pulled her up by her scruff .
Old Crone - we wish to buy presents. This is Tiny Teddy, my er ... well he is a guest´.
´At the castle?´ asked the Old Crone as lightning crashed and flashed
overhead and a bolt of thunder narrowly missed the store.
Teddy watched in amazement and hoped she would not say the word ´castle´ again but she did and the same thing happened.
Clawdette waved a paw ´I want a boring jigsaw for my sister in law.
With a piece missing´. The Old Crone reached up and pulled down a dusty
box, she blew the fine layer off it opened it and tossed a piece out.
Tiny Teddy sneezed. ´A new sketch pad for my beloved mate, Clawde the
famous fashion designer´. The Old Crone found one of those as well.
´Some catnip toys for two very naughty and tiresome kittens´. These too
were found. ´And a map of the world for Arfur as he likes to explore´.
The Crone climbed up a very tall ladder to get that while Clawdette
studied her list. She had planned to get Teddy his own cellphone but how
could she with him standing beside her? And what would she get
Purrdita? Such a difficult girl. Teddy’s eyes lit up when he heard
Purrdita‘s name.
The Old Crone seeing her hesitation sighed as if tired and bored.
´Old Crone ... do not sigh when I am addressing you! I am a customer
and the customer is always right. I used to work at a shop once myself.´
Then as if in a dream Clawdette could feel ghostly paws picking her up
and flying her to Purrseys in Mew York where she had once worked to
supplement her tiny income as a new model.
The much younger
and (much) slimmer Clawdette was behind a counter chewing something and
looking around her excitedly. ´Peckham ... Peckham ... there are so many
handsome toms in here today. We just bag ourselves a purrdner’ Peckham
took a discreet slug of a drink concealed in a water glass.
"How´d the shopping go, dear?" Clawde asked.
"Fine, Clawdey, except that Tiny Teddy had to run back into the shop
because he furgot his mittens or something. At least he has mittens to
furget now." Clawde smiled and didn´t mention his visit to the cold
offices of Mogue, where the poor cats were slaving away. Anna did not
seem to be around right then. She might have been off peeing on someone,
he supposed, but he had really
