THE CAT WATCHER--RURAL FAMILY STORY
by Peggy Halliday Young
 
The family knows that bird watching is feather fun!  
Friendly Father watches cross crows, rowdy blackbirds 
and sometimes wild geese and ducks.  Meticulous 
Mother watches ogly owls who hoot from the branches 
of trembling trees.  Academic Ally watches oratorical 
orioles and dubious Dave watches fabulous flickers.  
All the pretentious people watch outdoor birds, but 
Kittypaw, the mother cat, watches pretty Peter 
Parakeet and pretty Peter lives indoors in a cage 
in the dining room.
 
Kittypaw slyly sits under the cage leering up at Peter.  
Pretty Peter does not like Kittypaw gazing up at him 
so he scolds her, "Tchtchtchtchtch."

Mother is quick to react.  "Shoo!" she hisses. "Get 
away from under that cage you sneaky cat!"   Kittypaw just 
prudently pretends she is doing nothing wrong and goes 
to take a nap in Father's comfy chair, but when Mother 
goes into the kitchen, she spryly sits up and glares at 
perky Peter again.
 
"I wish Kittypaw wouldn't watch Peter," Davy tells Ally

"We all are bird watchers,"  Ally says. "So why don't 
you want Kittypaw to watch Peter!"

"Because I think she sees Peter as her supper!"

"No she doesn't" naive sister Ally says.  "She is 
just a bird watcher like the rest of us."1

"But she is a cat!  And I think she has cat reasons for 
watching!"  Dave answers, but he feels his sister might 
be right so quickly disappears out the front door.
 
The next day Davy obligingly opens perky Peter's 
cage door.  "Come out, little Peter, and fly about," 
he says.  "You are safe because I just 
put Kittypaw outdoors."

Peter flies to the window and perches on top of the 
curtain rod.  The he fleetingly flies to the top of 
the door, then to the dining room table and sits on 
the rim of the sugar bowl.  He bobs his head into 
the bowl and samples a little sugar.  From the sugar 
bowl he flies and lands on Davy's shoulder, then he 
goes to the top of his cage and tucks his bobbing 
head under his wing to take a nap.  Davy lies down 
on the sofa and without realizing it, he falls asleep.  

The slamming of the kitchen door awakens him with a 
start.  He looks at the cage.  Peter is gone!  A loud 
noise in the kitchen causes him to spring to his feet 
and race to the door.  Kittypaw is sitting in the 
middle of the kitchen floor washing her furry face.

"Oh Kittypaw!!!!" he cries.  "You CAT FINK!"

"Tchtchtchtchtchtchtch," Peter's innocent chatter 
assures Davy that Kittypaw is not washing up from 
eating him for supper.  Pretty Peter continues to 
scold as Kittypaw drinks milk from her dish. 

When the mother cat wanders into the dining room, 
Peter follows and flies to the top of the window.  
Kittypaw leaps into the comfy chair and Peter flies 
to his cage.  Kittypaw licks a nailed paw.  Pretty 
Peter nimbly climbs into his cage and onto his perch.

Davy sighs closing the cage door.  "Now you are safe," 
he says.  "You have become an expert cat watcher, Peter, 
but I will always wonder what your reasons are?" 

    




The Cat Watcher (book 9)