Off now you thieving moggy the fishmonger shrilled As if reading his thoughts she kicked the fish under her stall and cocked the broom for another swing Angry women with brooms unnerved him The only encounter Skilley dreaded more was one with Pinch the terror of Fleet Street With a flick of his peculiar tail Skilley turned his back to the fishwife putting all the disdain he could muster into the sway of his hips But once he had rounded the corner he flitted into an alley where he ran its length with darts and dashes Pausing at the end of the passageway he surveyed the familiar cobblestones and his spirits lightened Huddled over her fire on a near corner was the crone who sold roasted chestnuts for a ha-penny A few paces from her a boy hawked mulled cider Down the street the song of the rag and bone man mingled with the rattle of carriages and the hum of pedestrians Ah Fleet Street Skilley thought Home to some of the finest eating and drinking in London the street was a perfect gathering place for scavengers And down a certain modest court stood a most particular pub famed as a haunt for London writers Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Skilley peered through the gauzy mist The inn’s hanging 2
wooden sign twitched in a swirl of January wind Skilley shivered and looked longingly toward the cozy tavern There has to be a way in he thought Whatever it is you’re thinkin don’t came the warning followed by a soft dangerous purr Ah Pinch Skilley’s tone was pleasant but this outward outward calm belied the clenching of his stomach And a fine day to you Cold-blooded and volatile Pinch was not a cat to be trifled with You can keep your ah Pinch and your fine day His eyes narrowed and the hackles on his ginger-striped ginger-striped shoulders rose in challenge Just mind you keep away from The Cheese The Cheese Skilley asked unblinking What of it Mice Pinch said Mice Skilley’s eyes widened with pretend innocence Aye mice The Cheese tavern is overrun with em Ah Grandest cheese in England or so they say And where there’s that manner of cheese there’s mice aplenty He paused and gave a pleasurable groan Fat and juicy Plump and round young and tender His nose twitched as though it could already smell a nest of baby mice Mice aplenty you say Skilley interrupted The tavern is my ome You old your distance 3
Skilley sat and licked a paw a token of his indifference As an added touch he stroked behind his ear I wasn’t aware you had a home Pinch Aye but I do And that there’s it He nodded toward the inn Hmmm odd that said Skilley A cozy tavern for a home and yet here you sit on the icy cobblestones pass ing the day with the likes of me Well it will be my ome soon you watch and see The place is ate up with mice and the master’s witless for want of a mousekiller The Cheese is looking for a mouser A not-unpleasant chill danced up Skilley’s spine Yes and I’m it Cross me and s’elp me I’ll rip out your But Skilley had dropped the thread 4
of the conversation A mouser eh A plan began to nibble at his mind a plan of such elegant simplicity he was amazed he hadn’t thought of it before Stretching lazily he rose and with a last twitch of his crooked tail said You are a cat among cats Pinch and I thank you For what the ginger cat snarled after him What’d I do Skilley didn’t answer He was already engrossed in the audacity of a scheme so bold so cunning it would surely set him up for the rest of his nine lives 5
