While you're sleeping, snug and comfy in your beds, dreams floating round in your heads, do you know what your cat is doing at that wee hour, when moon has risen high, wind has stilled, leaving the air thickly perfumed with night flowers?
Of all the things to happen on a day cold enough to keep the windows closed, Princess Pricilla Prudence, tethered by a purple, rhinestone studded halter and matching purple leash, strutted past Necco's window with a short, round, purple-haired woman, also dressed in shades of purple sweats, wearing lots of bling. They even stopped in front of Necco's little garden for the princess to sniff the sweet Alyssum growing in a small pot near the sidewalk.
It was all Necco could do not to break down the window for a chance to talk to the new cat. It was the perfect opportunity, how could her guardians be so unclear about her yowls and tail slapping to get up from their nap and open the window for her? In frustration, Necco sailed out of the window into the middle of the bed and the sleeping humans. The whole bed vibrated with her pounce. With no luck in waking them, Necco walked up and down on their bodies. The female guardian lay on her side away from the window, Necco often laid on her hips, giving them extra warmth. But now she wanted her to wake up and open up the window before it was too late, before that prissy, white cat with the fancy purple bling had moved on, out of site.
Unfortunately, her guardians were used to Necco leaping from the window to the middle of the bed and back again. She did it all night long, and so, having grown accustomed to the bouncing bed, they napped on. It was of no use, Necco hurried back to the window, the white cat had sashayed on down the sidewalk. Fortunately for Necco, the sidewalk wound all the way around the grounds of the buildings, giving residences a place to walk their pets or just get exercise. Necco flew from the windowsill, bounced off the bed and raced down the hall to the dining room window. With luck, the fancy, Miss Prudy and her matching human should be coming round the corner of the building right about now.
Because the late afternoon sun was often strong on the west side of the building, the mini-blinds were down at this time of the day. Necco squeezed through the mini-blinds onto the windowsill and pressed her whole body against the warm glass. It was the end of September; an early cold front had passed through during the night, bringing with it an inch of rain and lots of wind. This was the beginning of the No Windows Open Season for Necco and her friends at the Rainbow Estates Senior Village. For the next six to seven months, life would be boring. Birds filled the trees and dined from a variety of feeders hanging in the trees all year round. She would spend the long, No Windows Open Season, lip sinking her bird and squirrel chatter to the unhearing, unafraid wildlife. The only comfort to this season was the fact that most nights, unless it was bitter cold, her human guardians liked to sleep with their bedroom window open to the cool night air. But not all of the residence of the little village did that. Markus's guardian did, but Frog's guardian didn't. At least she had Thorny to talk to most nights during this season. He went out every night, "making his rounds, marking his territory," he called it.
Necco pressed harder on the glass, distorting her face against the pane, waiting for the poufy white cat to appear. Surely, Miss Prudy and her guardian should be rounding the corner by now. Alas, there she was, stopping every few inches it seems, to smell the flowers, the shrubs, the freshly mowed grass. She and her guardian were in no particular hurry to walk the paths.
It just dawned on Necco why her guardians had their windows in the bedroom closed, the noise makers were there earlier with the lawnmowers, trimmers, and those smelly gasoline wind makers. The leaves were beginning to fall and the men with the blowers took longer than usual with those noisy things, to tidy up the grounds.
Necco rose up on her hind legs, rabbit-like, pawing on the window glass. She cried out with her little yilk, yilk sounds trying to get the new cat's attention. After a few good whacks with her tail against the glass, Miss Princess Pricilla Prudence turned towards the sound Necco was making. Necco got excited. She'd seen her! She'd seen her! Eagerly chattering through the double pained window, Necco stood even taller, pawing the glass even faster, making squeaking sounds with her sweaty paws. Miss Prudy turned her attention back to the walking path and strolled on, not giving any indication that she'd ever even noticed Necco in the window.
Desperate to be seen, to be paid attention to, Necco practically tore the mini-blinds from the window in an effort to get to the next window in the living room. She leaped, bounced off the back of male human's recliner and hit the window sill with such force it nearly knocked the wind out of her." Drat," she wailed. "Those blasted trees are blocking my view!" Necco ran back to the dining room window, hoping in vain for a better view of where the white cat had gone to. The old lady and her cat had been completely swallowed up by the trees and shrubs that made the landscape around the village so peaceful and private.
Necco slipped through the mini-blinds again, tore back down the hall to the bedroom, bounced once in the middle of the bed and hit the windowsill with precision. Defeated in her efforts to meet the new cat, she lowered herself into the windowsill, her front paws tucked neatly under her chest, and stared out the window at apartment sixteen. Eventually the little round, purple lady and her fancy cat would have to go back to their apartment. Necco would not be able to get her attention from where she was, but she thought that if she could stare at her long enough, perhaps she could send some kind of mental vibe that would let the precious little thing on the end of the purple leash, know that Necco wanted to greet her. Evidently this lady and her cat were not out for a marathon walk the way most of the seniors that could walk, did on cold, brisk days.
A half an hour later, Necco's eyes, reduced to silts, half dreaming, half alert to any outside movement, caught site of Miss Prudy's white plume as it disappeared up the sidewalk to its apartment. "Snob," Necco hissed. "You saw me in the window, I know you did. Are you too good to talk to anyone but Thorny? Well, we'll see about that, Miss Sissy, whatever your name is. Thorny will be by tonight and I'll tell him what a snob you really are." Obsessed, Necco stayed in her cat loaf position until dinner. After the sudden visit to the vet, the last time she stalked the prissy cat through her window, she was more careful about how much attention she gave apartment number sixteen when her guardians were awake.
The midnight hour came, the bedroom window had been open since dinner. Necco relished in the cool, fresh, earthy air that filtered into the room and bathed her soft, multicolored fur. She dozed, taking in all the sounds from the outside world. The frogs faintly clung to their little harmony in the ditches beyond the trees. Another week or two and they wouldn't be heard anymore. Necco tried to imagine what color halter and leash would look good with her coloring. Strawberry perhaps. Or maybe peach. She loved the color purple, like the prissy cat strutted around in today, but it would clash against her peach and brown markings.
"Necco," Markus called from the window above. "How'd you survive our first full day of the No Windows Open Season?"
"I didn't like it one bit," Necco hissed, her mind still fuming over being snubbed by the new cat.
"So, what'd you do today?" he chattered on. "Besides eat and sleep, I mean."
Necco filled him in on the snooty white cat's sashaying around the village that afternoon. "I'm telling you Markus, she's a snob. I'm going to send deep thoughts to my humans every night in their sleep, I want a red halter and leash. I want to go outside and walk around the village with my humans. I'm not going to rest until I get through to them."
"There you go, Necco, you're obsessing over that piece of fluff again. Thorny may like hanging around her, swooning over her at night, but she's s not really his type. He'll see that soon enough. So give it up, will you? Jealousy doesn't become you."
The sound of the window sliding open in Frog's apartment caught their attention. Frog jumped up into his window immediately and called out to Markus and Necco. "Hey, guys," he said, "guess what I heard today? We're gonna have some new people moving in upstairs soon. Maybe tomorrow. You think they've got cats? I hope they've got a cat."
Before Frog could tell Necco and Markus how he knew such details, Thorny came waltzing across the parking lot with muddy feet. He jumped up on Necco's guardian's car, leaving a trail of muddy tracks. Sitting under the lamp light be began to groom. "So what's been happenin' around here today?" he crooned, looking doe-eyed at Necco.
Necco stamped her feet in a little of fit of anger, slapped her tail against the wall a few times, and puffed out her cheeks. "Your new, fancy girlfriend casually strolled past my apartment today and didn't even give me the time of day. She's such a snob."
Thorny looked aghast that his "Sissy," as she liked to be called, would act like that. "I don't understand," he said, "she's very friendly and told me she was anxious to meet everyone. So, she got go outside today. Gee, I wish I'd have known, I could have walked with her and introduced her to you. I tell her all about you all the time, Necco. About Markus, Frog and the others. She really isn't a snob. Since she's not doing the show circuit anymore, she's been very lonely."
Necco told Thorny all about how she had tried to get the white cat's attention that afternoon, "and when she had looked over at here at me, she just turned her nose in the air and walked away, like she'd never even seen me," Necco hissed again, jealousy oozing from her little green eyes.
Thorny looked around as if expecting someone, then he turned his attention to Necco. "Necco," he whispered as if half expecting to be overheard by the white cat, "I'm sorry. I thought I told you all that Miss Sissy is nearly blind."
Of all the things to happen on a day cold enough to keep the windows closed, Princess Pricilla Prudence, tethered by a purple, rhinestone studded halter and matching purple leash, strutted past Necco's window with a short, round, purple-haired woman, also dressed in shades of purple sweats, wearing lots of bling. They even stopped in front of Necco's little garden for the princess to sniff the sweet Alyssum growing in a small pot near the sidewalk.
It was all Necco could do not to break down the window for a chance to talk to the new cat. It was the perfect opportunity, how could her guardians be so unclear about her yowls and tail slapping to get up from their nap and open the window for her? In frustration, Necco sailed out of the window into the middle of the bed and the sleeping humans. The whole bed vibrated with her pounce. With no luck in waking them, Necco walked up and down on their bodies. The female guardian lay on her side away from the window, Necco often laid on her hips, giving them extra warmth. But now she wanted her to wake up and open up the window before it was too late, before that prissy, white cat with the fancy purple bling had moved on, out of site.
Unfortunately, her guardians were used to Necco leaping from the window to the middle of the bed and back again. She did it all night long, and so, having grown accustomed to the bouncing bed, they napped on. It was of no use, Necco hurried back to the window, the white cat had sashayed on down the sidewalk. Fortunately for Necco, the sidewalk wound all the way around the grounds of the buildings, giving residences a place to walk their pets or just get exercise. Necco flew from the windowsill, bounced off the bed and raced down the hall to the dining room window. With luck, the fancy, Miss Prudy and her matching human should be coming round the corner of the building right about now.
Because the late afternoon sun was often strong on the west side of the building, the mini-blinds were down at this time of the day. Necco squeezed through the mini-blinds onto the windowsill and pressed her whole body against the warm glass. It was the end of September; an early cold front had passed through during the night, bringing with it an inch of rain and lots of wind. This was the beginning of the No Windows Open Season for Necco and her friends at the Rainbow Estates Senior Village. For the next six to seven months, life would be boring. Birds filled the trees and dined from a variety of feeders hanging in the trees all year round. She would spend the long, No Windows Open Season, lip sinking her bird and squirrel chatter to the unhearing, unafraid wildlife. The only comfort to this season was the fact that most nights, unless it was bitter cold, her human guardians liked to sleep with their bedroom window open to the cool night air. But not all of the residence of the little village did that. Markus's guardian did, but Frog's guardian didn't. At least she had Thorny to talk to most nights during this season. He went out every night, "making his rounds, marking his territory," he called it.
Necco pressed harder on the glass, distorting her face against the pane, waiting for the poufy white cat to appear. Surely, Miss Prudy and her guardian should be rounding the corner by now. Alas, there she was, stopping every few inches it seems, to smell the flowers, the shrubs, the freshly mowed grass. She and her guardian were in no particular hurry to walk the paths.
It just dawned on Necco why her guardians had their windows in the bedroom closed, the noise makers were there earlier with the lawnmowers, trimmers, and those smelly gasoline wind makers. The leaves were beginning to fall and the men with the blowers took longer than usual with those noisy things, to tidy up the grounds.
Necco rose up on her hind legs, rabbit-like, pawing on the window glass. She cried out with her little yilk, yilk sounds trying to get the new cat's attention. After a few good whacks with her tail against the glass, Miss Princess Pricilla Prudence turned towards the sound Necco was making. Necco got excited. She'd seen her! She'd seen her! Eagerly chattering through the double pained window, Necco stood even taller, pawing the glass even faster, making squeaking sounds with her sweaty paws. Miss Prudy turned her attention back to the walking path and strolled on, not giving any indication that she'd ever even noticed Necco in the window.
Desperate to be seen, to be paid attention to, Necco practically tore the mini-blinds from the window in an effort to get to the next window in the living room. She leaped, bounced off the back of male human's recliner and hit the window sill with such force it nearly knocked the wind out of her." Drat," she wailed. "Those blasted trees are blocking my view!" Necco ran back to the dining room window, hoping in vain for a better view of where the white cat had gone to. The old lady and her cat had been completely swallowed up by the trees and shrubs that made the landscape around the village so peaceful and private.
Necco slipped through the mini-blinds again, tore back down the hall to the bedroom, bounced once in the middle of the bed and hit the windowsill with precision. Defeated in her efforts to meet the new cat, she lowered herself into the windowsill, her front paws tucked neatly under her chest, and stared out the window at apartment sixteen. Eventually the little round, purple lady and her fancy cat would have to go back to their apartment. Necco would not be able to get her attention from where she was, but she thought that if she could stare at her long enough, perhaps she could send some kind of mental vibe that would let the precious little thing on the end of the purple leash, know that Necco wanted to greet her. Evidently this lady and her cat were not out for a marathon walk the way most of the seniors that could walk, did on cold, brisk days.
A half an hour later, Necco's eyes, reduced to silts, half dreaming, half alert to any outside movement, caught site of Miss Prudy's white plume as it disappeared up the sidewalk to its apartment. "Snob," Necco hissed. "You saw me in the window, I know you did. Are you too good to talk to anyone but Thorny? Well, we'll see about that, Miss Sissy, whatever your name is. Thorny will be by tonight and I'll tell him what a snob you really are." Obsessed, Necco stayed in her cat loaf position until dinner. After the sudden visit to the vet, the last time she stalked the prissy cat through her window, she was more careful about how much attention she gave apartment number sixteen when her guardians were awake.
The midnight hour came, the bedroom window had been open since dinner. Necco relished in the cool, fresh, earthy air that filtered into the room and bathed her soft, multicolored fur. She dozed, taking in all the sounds from the outside world. The frogs faintly clung to their little harmony in the ditches beyond the trees. Another week or two and they wouldn't be heard anymore. Necco tried to imagine what color halter and leash would look good with her coloring. Strawberry perhaps. Or maybe peach. She loved the color purple, like the prissy cat strutted around in today, but it would clash against her peach and brown markings.
"Necco," Markus called from the window above. "How'd you survive our first full day of the No Windows Open Season?"
"I didn't like it one bit," Necco hissed, her mind still fuming over being snubbed by the new cat.
"So, what'd you do today?" he chattered on. "Besides eat and sleep, I mean."
Necco filled him in on the snooty white cat's sashaying around the village that afternoon. "I'm telling you Markus, she's a snob. I'm going to send deep thoughts to my humans every night in their sleep, I want a red halter and leash. I want to go outside and walk around the village with my humans. I'm not going to rest until I get through to them."
"There you go, Necco, you're obsessing over that piece of fluff again. Thorny may like hanging around her, swooning over her at night, but she's s not really his type. He'll see that soon enough. So give it up, will you? Jealousy doesn't become you."
The sound of the window sliding open in Frog's apartment caught their attention. Frog jumped up into his window immediately and called out to Markus and Necco. "Hey, guys," he said, "guess what I heard today? We're gonna have some new people moving in upstairs soon. Maybe tomorrow. You think they've got cats? I hope they've got a cat."
Before Frog could tell Necco and Markus how he knew such details, Thorny came waltzing across the parking lot with muddy feet. He jumped up on Necco's guardian's car, leaving a trail of muddy tracks. Sitting under the lamp light be began to groom. "So what's been happenin' around here today?" he crooned, looking doe-eyed at Necco.
Necco stamped her feet in a little of fit of anger, slapped her tail against the wall a few times, and puffed out her cheeks. "Your new, fancy girlfriend casually strolled past my apartment today and didn't even give me the time of day. She's such a snob."
Thorny looked aghast that his "Sissy," as she liked to be called, would act like that. "I don't understand," he said, "she's very friendly and told me she was anxious to meet everyone. So, she got go outside today. Gee, I wish I'd have known, I could have walked with her and introduced her to you. I tell her all about you all the time, Necco. About Markus, Frog and the others. She really isn't a snob. Since she's not doing the show circuit anymore, she's been very lonely."
Necco told Thorny all about how she had tried to get the white cat's attention that afternoon, "and when she had looked over at here at me, she just turned her nose in the air and walked away, like she'd never even seen me," Necco hissed again, jealousy oozing from her little green eyes.
Thorny looked around as if expecting someone, then he turned his attention to Necco. "Necco," he whispered as if half expecting to be overheard by the white cat, "I'm sorry. I thought I told you all that Miss Sissy is nearly blind."
6 comments:
Oh That Necco! and I just love Princess Pricilla Prudence!
That was a great story! I really enjoyed it!
Oh wow, Dorothy. I just loved it. Your Necco stories are entrancing! And I just loved the twist at the end, finding out that Princess Priscilla Prudence is nearly blind. Your kitty characters are purr-ecious -- they come to life and purr. :)
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story! Sending big hugs to you, my friend.
Dear Dorothy,
Your article is great~!! I enjoy reading it~!
I finished the meme.
:)
michico
I loved this installment of your story. The twist at the end is great! It should be a lesson to us all that things are not always as they appear. I also like your clock that ticks. Very soothing background noise for your stories!
Wonderful story. :) Poor blind Miss Sissy. Thank you again for sharing your writing talent with us.
Life is so different from another creature's point of view, isn't it? I'm glad Miss Sissy has such a great purply owner so she can sniff flowers and enjoy life. It could've been MUCH worse. thank you for another wonderful story.
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