A Pile of Sand that Could Meow

My Conversation with Chili

I was minding my own business on the couch one day when Chili suddenly started talking. Non-stop.

“So, Freddy, you asked me to tell you the story of my life. You wanted to know how I went from a little pile of yellow sand to a beautiful cat – at least, according to what everyone says.

“To be honest, I don’t remember everything precisely, but I have a fairly good idea of the important bits.

“One early morning, just after I’d had my breakfast, my mummy cat said, ‘Littledarlin’ (You see, Freddy, this was my name back then.) ‘Littledarlin, I’m off to get some food. You go to sleep now, and when you wake up, I’ll be right here next to you.’

“‘And will we play together, mummy, and will you let me get more mil?’ I was so young that I couldn’t say ‘milk’ yet.

“‘Of course, my baby, I’ll have much more milk for you after finding some food, I promise!’

“Mummy smiled and gave me a kiss on the head. She helped me curl close to the wheel on my little bed – you see, our house had four wheels and an iron roof. It was convenient as the sun couldn’t come in and bite my skin, and the raindrops fell all around but never inside. I was so little that I didn’t yet have a lot of fur to protect me, so I preferred to stay inside. Besides, I loved our home. Just too bad we didn’t have one of those cosy baskets that are everywhere in your house. Mummy had to sleep on a stone floor, but she had arranged a little bed of dry leaves for me.

“As my belly was full of mummy’s good milk, and I was feeling comfy, I immediately fell asleep.

“I don’t know how long my nap lasted, but I had the feeling it was very, very long. Of course, I expected to see mummy next to me when I opened my eyes. But she wasn’t there. I started calling for her by meowing as loudly as I could. There was no reply, so I got up, ran all over our home, from the left to the right and then back and forth, inspected the other three wheels and looked outside by crawling along the edges of the shadow that our house formed on the ground.

“Mummy was nowhere to be found; she didn’t reply to my calls no matter how desperate they were. I was stunned; this was totally unusual. Until then, whenever I’d woken up, she would be bending over me, her loving face looking at me.

Dear reader, this story is no longer available online. To read it, please check my book on Amazon

---