Cat C H A P T E R T WO Cat Cat Cat Cat Cat What do you hear Pip Tell us what they’re say Shhhh Pip raised a single digit on his tiny paw and pressed it to his lips His fellow mice fell begrudgingly silent Pip closed his eyes and pressed a fuzzy delicate ear to the thin wall between himself and the chop room of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese To his dismay the wall was not thin enough He could catch only a word or two which made it difficult even for him to understand the language of the humans Human language was a talent he had mastered while living in the pocket of Nell the innkeeper’s daughter
As Pip strained to listen his thoughts returned to that blackest of days when his entire family including five brothers and sisters had been cruelly murdered by some unknown hand Croomes the cook Pip harbored no doubt there Her bloody cleaver was found nearby was it not Pip alone had been left alive unseen no doubt due to his unusually small size Nell had heard his squeaks and rescued him from the bloody carnage Her anger and distress was such that her breath came in gasps as she carried him away up up up the twisting winding impossible stairs of the inn She’d stopped only when she reached the safety of the attic Holding the frightened little thing in one cupped hand she’d used the other to search and find the bag of lamb’s wool She’d torn away a small cloud of it pressed it deep into her apron pocket and then with much tenderness she’d nestled Pip safely inside When she heard his hiccuped sobs Nell’s anger melted away replaced with a welling up of grief that was as much for herself as for the mouse Nell’s mother had not experienced a violent death Quite the opposite Her passing had followed a short and 7
rather unremarkable illness Still there had been no proper good-bye Her young mother had simply fallen asleep and never again awakened like some princess in an ancient tale Nell and her father were left feeling as though she’d never really gone as though they might yet encounter her suddenly on a stair Everyone agreed that Nell had not been the same since that day The less charitable among the inn’s inhabitants went so far as to suggest she had gone a bit soft in the head Whether Nell were sane daft or merely heartsick the young mouse had found a friend in the newly orphaned girl Reaching into her pocket she’d stroked his downy back with a fingertip and whispered You sleep now No one will hurt you so long as you’re with me And she’d choked back a sob It had been the best and worst day of Pip’s life That is until this afternoon when he finally quieted his fellow creatures enough to hear spoken again in the rumbling voice of the innkeeper that ominous word Cat 8
CHAPTER THREE The moment Skilley left Pinch’s side he set his plan in motion Careful to seem unhurried lest his rival might be watching Skilley wove a path among the bustling humans until he lost himself in the crowd He waited but a few moments Then with a leap and a lightning sprint he sped to the unimposing front door of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Not to the back door mind you where smelly fish bones and gelatinous puddings were hurled daily into the gutter and where no doubt even now Pinch and the other toms and tabbies would be assembling for the evening meal No Skilley marched directly to the front door Unthinkable impudence for a cat Halted by a brief moment of doubt not in the plan itself but in its execution he paused It was a perfect plan that was now perfectly ruined by a door Of all things Skilley hated doors He sat back on his haunches and considered the situation He looked at his right paw Then his left
