EPISODE 2 - The Unexpected Visitor

By Helen Nyman

It was another beautiful morning on Cat Island as the sun slowly began to rise over the sea. Sergeant Nelson was feeling very at peace with himself as he took his early morning stroll along the beach, when suddenly he stopped and sniffed the air. His fur was raised ever so slightly and his ears stood erect. Straight ahead of him something had caught his eye, something that had been washed up on the shore by the tide. Very cautiously he crept up, and what he saw was something that was strictly prohibited on Cat Island - A DOG!

It was not a very big dog, in fact it was a very tiny dog, but it was still a dog. Sergeant Nelson was not sure if it was alive or dead, so he crept a little nearer and stared very closely at the soggy white bundle, and he was just able to see a slight movement as the tiny dog breathed in and out.

Whilst he was trying to decide what to do, Rusty and his two fish shop assistants appeared on the scene. They had come to pull in the fishing nets they had cast into the sea the previous night.

“What on earth is that?” said Rusty, and that moment the little dog, a toy poodle, opened her eyes and blinked very hard trying to understand where she was.

The cats took one step back. You see many of the cats on Cat Island had suffered bad experiences with dogs, and even those who hadn’t were aware of the stories. And you know how it is when a story keeps getting repeated over and over again, things tend to get exaggerated, so as you can imagine dogs had a very bad name, which is a shame, as not all dogs chase cats or hurt them. But just to be on the safe side King Freddy had made the rule – no dogs allowed on Cat Island, and up to this moment the rule had always been obeyed.

The little white poodle precariously rose to her feet and gave herself a good shake to get some of the sea water off her coat. As she did so she managed to splatter the cats standing near her. Needless to say this did nothing to increase her popularity.

Sergeant Nelson decided it was time he took control of the situation. He puffed out his fur in an attempt to look bigger than he actually was and approached the tiny dog demanding to know what it was doing on Cat Island.

She looked very frightened. Rusty, who was known to have a big heart, walked up to her and said, “Don’t be afraid, just tell us why you are here and no harm will come to you.”

Mustering enough courage she managed to introduce herself. “My name is Cuddles, and the reason I’m here is that I had an accident.” And with this she told her them her story…

It seems that Cuddles was on one of the many private yachts that often sailed past Cat Island. Cuddles’ owners had decided that even though the sea was rough they still wanted to keep on the move, and when a particularly big wave hit their boat she had been swept overboard. Her owners hadn’t realised what had happened until much later and sadly assumed she had drowned.

After telling her story Cuddles suddenly burst into tears. The cats that were watching had to admit that even if she was a dog she really did not look at all threatening, especially with a big piece of seaweed dangling from her left ear and the sad expression in her eyes.

“Hmm, yes, sounds like a convincing enough story,” said Sergeant Nelson. “But how do we know you are not a spy sent by our enemies, and before we know it our island will be invaded by an army of dogs and that will be the end of us to be sure!”

“Oh dear,” said Taffy, a striped tom from Wales, “he’s been watching too much television again and letting his imagination run wild. Anyone can see that Cuddles is telling the truth as she never blinked once whilst she was telling her story and that is a sure sign that she wasn’t lying.”

The other cats agreed with Taffy as he was a very down to earth cat, something to do with the fact that he had lived in a coalmine in Wales for the first year of his life, and if he said Cuddles was telling the truth then it was so.

Rusty thought that King Freddy should be informed, so he sent one of his helpers to the palace.

By this time the beach was full of cats. As you know how it is when something new happens, everyone is very curious, and so the circle around poor little Cuddles was growing by the minute.

At the castle King Freddy was nowhere to be found. “Never here when you need him”, said Queen Suzi. “He’s probably chasing one of my ladies in waiting round the garden. He thinks I don’t know what he’s up to, but there is very little that goes on around here that I’m not informed about…”

The messenger gave a little cough and said, “Excuse me your Majesty, but I have some very important news to tell King Freddy.”

“Well don’t just stand there like a lemon, spit it out,” said Queen Suzi, so the messenger told her about how Sergeant Nelson had found Cuddles washed up on the beach.

Queen Suzi looked like she was going to have a fit! “A dog did you say?! Here on our island! What is the world coming to?” She thought for a minute and said, “Call Nero, I have to speak to him immediately!”

Nero was an enormous black cat who looked a like a panther. He was the Prime Minister of Cat Island. One of the many reasons he was so good at his job was because of his oratory skills. His mother who was Irish referred to it as ‘the gift of the gab’.

Nero arrived immediately and gave a quick bow to Queen Suzi, then waited for her to tell him what all the fuss was about, as by now the news had gone around the palace and everyone was huddled together in groups discussing it in low whispers.

Once the problem had been explained Nero suggested that Cuddles be brought to his office so that he could interrogate her and he convinced Queen Suzi that he would do so with the utmost tact and diplomacy, just in case she was a spy!

Cuddles was escorted to Nero’s office and just to make sure that no one frightened her, Rusty held her paw whilst she answered all Nero’s questions.

After ten minutes of her story being repeated over an over again to make sure she was telling the truth, Nero was finally satisfied Cuddles was indeed a castaway and not a spy. But the question remained what to do with her, as even though she really was a very sweet little dog, she was still a dog, and no dogs were allowed on Cat Island.

Rusty suggested that he take Cuddles back to his house until it was decided how she could be returned to her owners. Nero was in full agreement and said he would be in touch with Rusty as soon as King Freddy had been found and they had discussed the problem with him. So paw in paw Rusty and Cuddles went off home.

Amber was in the kitchen giving the kittens their tea, and Lucky, the little black kitten was making loud growling noises as he gobbled up his fish stew. This was supposed to frighten off his sister and brothers, just in case it entered their minds to take some food off his plate.

As Rusty and Cuddles entered the kitchen Amber stared hard, as you see she was really very short sighted but was too vain to wear spectacles, and she thought it was her cousin Snowy that was with Rusty. “What on earth have you done to your fur my dear?” she said, “You didn’t buy one of those home perms did you?”

Rusty cleared his throat and said, “Amber, I’d like to introduce you to Cuddles. She’s a dog that has been shipwrecked on Cat Island.”

“Tell me another” said Amber, but when she stepped a bit nearer she saw that Rusty was telling the truth.

Well bless my whiskers she said, “Is she dangerous?”

“Oh no”, said Rusty, “She’s a very sweet little dog and also very frightened, and I was wondering if you mind if she stayed here with us until King Freddy finds a way to get her home. Amber thought for a minute and said, “As long as she doesn’t harm the kittens she can stay.” And so it was decided.

The reason King Freddy could not be found was that he was right on the other side of the island from where the Royal Palace was. It wasn’t a very well known area, and that was precisely why he felt safe to be there without being pestered by Queen Suzi. You see, King Freddy went once a week to visit his best friend Barnaby.

Barnaby was a cat with only three fury legs. The fourth was made of wood from the knee down. He was a pirate cat, or rather he belonged to a band of pirates and had spent many years sailing the high seas on their ship. In fact it was during one of their adventures at sea that Barnaby lost his leg. It seems that one of the pirates had put too much gun powder in the cannon and when it fired to warn off another pirate ship, poor Barnaby was hit on the leg.

King Freddy loved going to visit Barnaby. They shared a saucer of coconut milk and rum, and Barnaby would tell King Freddy all about the adventures that he’d had during his years with the pirates.

Freddy wished that he could introduce Barnaby to Queen Suzi, but he knew that she would not consider him to be the right kind of company. Queen Suzi, in case you had not realised it, was a bit of a snob.

Felix, King Freddy’s loyal servant, knew where to find his master and he went immediately to tell him about Cuddles.

King Freddy’s face lit up with joy when he heard the story as he had been feeling very bored just attending all the routine duties. This event was just what the doctor ordered to liven things up a little. He thanked Felix for bringing the message and told him to go back to the Palace to tell Queen Suzi he was on his way.

When Felix had gone King Freddy told Barnaby what had happened and asked his opinion on the matter. You see, even though King Freddy had great faith in Prime Minister Nero’s capabilities, he preferred to discuss certain things with Barnaby as he was usually very quick at arriving at solutions to problems.

Barnaby flicked his tail, twitched his whiskers and without realising he was doing so, began to tap his wooden leg on the floor. He always did these three things when he was very concentrated, and then he said, “I’ve got it!”

First we have to find out from Cuddles the name of the yacht she was sailing on, then once we have it we call for Pelican Bill.

Pelican Bill was a huge pelican that lived on one of the neighbouring islands. He had a working relationship with the cats on Cat Island. He provided a transport service. He carried the cats that need to travel to and from the island inside his huge beak. When he opened it wide there was room for two big cats to sit comfortably, or three little cats with a suitcase.

“You mean if we find the yacht, Pelican Bill can carry Cuddles back to her owners. What a great idea Barnaby!” said King Freddy. “I do wish you would consider a job at the Palace. You are wasted here with your brilliant mind.”

King Freddy said goodbye to his friend and made his way back to the Palace to tell Queen Suzi what he was going to do with Cuddles.

After hearing the plan Queen Suzi agreed it was a perfect solution. She couldn’t help wondering how King Freddy got these bright ideas as she was convinced that he never really gave much thought to serious things. In fact she was a little bit jealous that she hadn’t thought of it first.

Amber and Cuddles were having a cosy chat about girlie things when King Freddy’s messenger arrived informing them to go immediately to the palace.

When they arrived presentations were made and King Freddy told Cuddles of his plan to return her to her owners. “Now tell me my dear, what is the name of the sailing boat you were travelling on?” Cuddles thought and thought and finally said, “It’s on the tip of my tongue but just won’t come out.”

“Well it’s not like you have been away from it for years”, said Queen Suzi, “So how is it possible that you can’t remember the name? Could it be that you don’t want to leave here?”

“You are just making her more nervous with that attitude.” Said King Freddy, “Let me deal with it dear.”

“Now Cuddles”, said King Freddy, “take a nice deep breath and concentrate hard and try to remember the name of the sailing boat belonging to your owners.” Cuddles closed her eyes and tried very hard to remember the name, then suddenly her little tail started wagging furiously from side to side. “I’ve just remembered!” she said. “The name of the boat is ‘The Saucy Sue’!”
“What did you say?” said Queen Suzi. “The Saucy Sue, what a vulgar name.” And with that she turned her back and with her magnificent fluffy white tail in the air, she left the room.

“Never mind her” said King Freddy, “She’ll get over it, well done Cuddles, now we can get to work to find your owners.”

Nero was instructed to bring Pelican Bill to the Palace, and half an hour later he was standing in front of King Freddy receiving his instructions.

“What I want you to do is fly around the three neighbouring islands where the tourists go and look at the names of the boats that are moored in the harbours. If you see one that is called ‘The Saucy Sue’ fly back here immediately to let me know. Is that clear?”

“No problem guv, sorry I mean your Majesty. Just leave it with me. I will share the job with my two brothers Homer and Wilber. That way we can each check an island and it cuts the work in half, or less than half, maybe quarters, or…”

“Yes I get the idea,” said King Freddy, “but if we stand here all day discussing your calculations we’ll never get started will we? So off you go!”

Pelican Bill, Homer and Wilber first went to the fish shop to have a quick snack as they flew a lot better on a full tummy, and then they took off to try and find ‘The Saucy Sue’.

It didn’t take more than an hour before they were all back again looking very pleased with themselves. “Mission accomplished your Majesty”, said Pelican Bill. “The Saucy Sue is anchored in front of the island of Tica-Tica, the one just next to this one. And we saw Cuddles’ owners sitting on the deck trying to comfort a little girl who was crying for her lost dog.”

“Excellent work Bill,” said King Freddy. “Now the next step is to wait for the sun to go down and when it’s almost dark you can carry Cuddles in your beak back to her family.”

Amber had given Cuddles a good wash, and after drying her fur with a rough towel she exclaimed, “You look beautiful my dear. Just like a little cloud.” And just to add the finishing touch she dabbed two drops of her favourite perfume ‘Eau de Tom’ behind Cuddles’ ears. Cuddles screwed up her nose and gave two little sneezes. “Thank you Amber. You and Rusty have been so kind to me. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

The moon had come up and it was time to leave for the beach where Pelican Bill was waiting.

All the cats had come to say farewell to Cuddles. Many of them had brought little gifts for her. Dr Yowl handed her a small box with some rather nasty smelling powder inside which he said was to be licked if she felt sick whilst she was flying. He also gave her a small empty coconut shell to be used in case the powder did not work!

King Freddy gave Cuddles a friendly pat on the head and told her that it had been a pleasure meeting her, and that any time she fell into the sea she should feel free to drop in and pay them a visit.

Not wanting to appear totally unfriendly, Queen Suzi had also brought a going away present for Cuddles. It was one of the many collars she didn’t particularly like very much, but as she said when she handed it to Cuddles, “It may be second hand my dear, but a second hand royal collar is worth much more than a new ordinary one.” And with that she waved goodbye and slowly walked back to the Palace.

Cuddles climbed into Pelican Bill’s open beak and settled down for the take off. She was happy to be going back to her family, but was also a little sad to be leaving her new friends.

“Don’t fly too fast Bill”, said King Freddy, “And let me know when Cuddles has been delivered safe and sound to her owners.” With these final instructions fresh in his mind, Pelican Bill spread his large wings and slowly rose into the sky carrying Cuddles away from Cat Island and back to her family, who were going to be overjoyed at finding her, but completely mystified as to how she had got back to them!

The cats on the beach started drifting back to their homes. They all had to agree that dogs were not that bad after all, at least dogs like Cuddles, and that it had been another exciting and worthwhile day on Cat Island.

All rights reserved. Copyright Helen Nyman 2007

EPISODE 1 - The Beginning

By Helen Nyman

Once upon a time there was an island that was inhabited only by cats.

Cats from all over the world that had never had a home or a family to look after them, or had been abandoned, travelled to this island knowing here they would be welcome.

There was a King and a Queen who ruled Cat Island. The King was called Freddy. He was a mixed breed, half Persian half tabby. He was much loved by all his subjects. King Freddy always seemed to have a smile on his face and his greatest pleasure was playing tricks on other cats.

The Queen was called Suzi and she was very different from King Freddy. Queen Suzi was a pure breed Persian, with a magnificent fluffy tail, which she cleaned continuously. When she wasn’t grooming herself she was either eating delicate little specialities that her cook Tilly prepared for her, or she was rolled on her back waiting for the “Royal Belly Rubber” to come and scratch her tummy, until she fell asleep purring so loudly that King Freddy had to put earplugs in so as not to be disturbed!

The most popular place on the island was the fish shop, which was owned by a big fat ginger cat called Rusty and his wife Amber, a very friendly ginger and white tabby, who liked nothing better than a good gossip – if anyone wanted to know the latest news on the island, they always went to see Amber.

Rusty and Amber had four kittens – three ginger ones with bright green eyes, and to everyone’s surprise a black one with yellow eyes, who Amber declared to be the spitting image of her Grandfather, and no one ever dared to challenge her!

As there were many kittens on the island there was also a school for them, run by a very intelligent cross-eyed Siamese cat called Tee-Cha. No one is very sure whether she got the job because of her intelligence or because with a name like hers what else could she be?

Apart from the fish shop, there was also The Milk Bar, which was a favourite meeting place to go to in the evenings to socialise with friends and neighbours. As there were no cows on the island the milk came from coconuts and this was a real speciality.

The Milk Bar belonged to Flash, a very slim agile black cat, who before moving to the island had lived in a country where black cats were considered unlucky and had spent most of his early life running up trees to avoid the bullies who threw stones at him, making him an excellent tree climber! He would climb right to the very top of the trees where the coconuts grew and push them down with such force that they crashed to the ground and split open immediately. Waiting at the bottom of the tree was Flash’s wife Molly who collected the coconut milk into large empty turtle shells that were occasionally washed onto the beach by the waves.

In case any of the cats were unwell there was a hospital run by a rather absent-minded cat called Dr Yowl. He was a big white cat with sparkly blue eyes, and was very hard of hearing, which often led him to giving the wrong medicine as he couldn’t really hear what his patients were complaining of, but up to now he’d never really hurt anyone.

As the cats on the island had come from all different countries, each one arrived with their own unique culture. The cats from Italy were very noisy, and all seemed to talk at the same time and waved their paws in the air when they spoke. If you sat too near to them you could often catch the smell of garlic on their breath as they claimed it added that little something to their food, and also helped to keep the fleas away!

There were cats of all breeds from France, Russia, China, England, Kenya, India, Brazil and many other nations and once a year they all dressed up in their national costumes for Cat Pride that was celebrated with a big garden party in the Palace grounds. This year the celebrations were to have an even greater meaning as it was Cat Pride’s 125th anniversary!

King Freddy was very excited at the thought of the annual party that was going to be in two days time. He was planning the list of games they could play. The most popular was “Pinning the Tail on the Lizard” – there were thousands of tiny lizards running around on the island, and a large part of them without tails as cats just love catching lizards and biting their tails off.

King Freddy didn’t consider this cruel as he never killed the lizards and insisted that their tails grew back again anyway, so why not have a bit of fun? He did make one rule though and that was that all tails that had been bitten off must be preserved so that on the day of the big party each of the cats could have a chance to pin the tail on the pretend lizard that was attached to a palm tree and the winner was awarded a free treatment at the islands beauty parlour. Here they could have a full manicure of front and back claws, and their fur would be licked until it shone like silk.

Tilly, the Palace cook, was very busy preparing special dishes to eat at the party. She was a very large cat as she always dipped a paw into what she was cooking to taste it, and was therefore rather chubby especially around her tummy. The dish that Tilly liked cooking most was iced mice. First she made tiny mice out of fish mixed with ground coconut and when they had been cooked she quickly dipped each one into a delicious icing, made from a secret recipe that had been passed on to her from her Great Grandmother. Nobody had been able to get her to tell them the ingredients, but let me tell you those iced mice just melted in your mouth and were the favourite treat at every Cat Pride. In fact, a lot of the cats came just for the pleasure of eating one.

Queen Suzi was trying to decide which of her many collars she would wear for the party, and she finally decided on a pink velvet one with little sea shells attached to it, which she was convinced made her look just like a mermaid.

Six of the French cats were practicing the Can-Can. They were very good at it as they had lived for a long time in an alley behind the Folies Bergères in Paris and had often slipped into the theatre whenever the back door had been left open, and watched the dancers kicking their legs in the air, much to the delight of the audience. They had only decided to leave Paris when the cold of winter had started to make their bones ache a little and the thought of the sun on Cat Island had finally convinced them that it was time to make a move.


One of the dancers called Fifi was paying special attention to her whiskers, as last year at the party King Freddy had winked at her and told her that she had the prettiest whiskers he had ever seen. She was hoping that maybe this year he would say something nice about her to Queen Suzi and that just maybe the Queen would call her to be one of her ladies in waiting. What she didn’t know was that the Queen always chose unattractive ladies in waiting, in that way she herself looked more beautiful!

The cat’s chorus was rehearsing the music for the party. There were two Russian cats, one Swiss who was particularly good at yodelling, and five Afro-American cats who brought a tone of gospel to the singing. They were arguing as to who would sing the national anthem to open the festivities, and it was finally decided that Boris, a very handsome cat from Siberia, would have the honour this year as he really did have a superb voice, especially when he’d had a saucer of coconut milk with a drop of vodka added to it.

There were only two police cats on the island as most of the inhabitants were well behaved, but just to keep the occasional trouble maker in order, King Freddy had appointed Sergeant Nelson, a black cat with only one eye - he’d lost the other eye in a nasty fight years ago but didn’t really like to talk about it. Sergeant Nelson’s right hand cat was officer Sam who was an excellent runner, which was a great advantage when he had to chase naughty kittens who liked to steal fish from the fish shop when they thought no one was looking.

It was the day before the party and everyone was very busy doing last minute things and preparing special food dishes to take to Queen Suzi, who made it quite clear that she appreciated any gift that involved food.

Amber was in a real tizzy as she had promised to help the royal cook Tilly with the final preparations for Cat Prides food, but the fish shop was full of busy shoppers and she just remembered that she had an appointment to take her kittens to be vaccinated at the hospital in half an hours time. “Heavens”, she said, “I’ll never be able to do everything on time!” The three little ginger kittens were quietly sleeping in a basket under the counter, but as usual Lucky the black kitten was missing. Amber knew just where to look. You see, Lucky had a passion for climbing trees and he liked nothing better than to run right to the top of the palm tree that grew outside the fish shop. Rusty could never understand where Lucky had inherited his climbing skills from, but Amber said his Grandfather had been a great tree climber, and no one ever dared to question her!

At the hospital Dr Yowl was having a short catnap when his nurse Lola woke him to tell him that Amber arrived with her kittens for their vaccinations. Having not heard what Lola had said he gave a little stretch and instructed her to give them some cod liver oil and tell them to come back in two days time to let him know how they were feeling. And with that he went straight back to sleep.

“Never mind”, thought Lola, “I’ll do the vaccinations myself.” In fact Lola was much gentler when it came to giving injections. You see, Lola had once belonged to a very rich lady who had bought her to make her apartment look beautiful, as Lola really was a beautiful looking cat, but the rich lady was terrified that Lola might scratch her precious antique furniture, so she’d taken her to the vet and had her claws removed, consequently Lola had a very soft touch.

At the Palace King Freddy was having his claws trimmed by his faithful servant Felix. Every now and then he would give a little chuckle to himself, which usually meant that he was planning a trick to play on someone. Queen Suzi was lying on a satin cushion gazing out of the window and trying to remember her speech that she made every year at the opening ceremony of Cat Pride.

In the school house Tee-Cha had the task of choosing the kitten who would present Queen Suzi with a bouquet of lavender at the party the next day. Queen Suzi particularly loved the smell of lavender as she claimed it helped her feel calm and relaxed. Sitting at the back of the classroom was Bertie, who was King Freddy’s nephew and like his uncle he also loved playing tricks. Tee-Cha decided that he should give the bouquet to Queen Suzi and it was a decision that she would later regret.

All the cats went to bed early that night as they wanted to be bright, fresh and shiny furred for the party the next day.

At last the day of the party had arrived and the sun shone brightly. The Palace gates had been opened wide and the cats started arriving.

The first through the gates was Yoki, a little cat from Japan, and she was dressed in a beautiful kimono. Yoki was carrying a big plate of sushi that was her gift for Queen Suzi.

The array of costumes was spectacular and everyone was in a very good mood owing to the wonderful mouth watering fragrances that were floating in the air from the party food from every corner of the world that Tilly had prepared: Spaghetti with “much-room” sauce (which allowed you to eat as much as you wanted without ever feeling full) from Italy; Rat-atouille from France; Birds nest soup from China; Hot Dogs with kat-chup from America; fish fingers and toes from England; and chocolate coated ants from Southern Africa. And sitting in the place of honour on the grand food table was a huge silver platter piled high with Tilly’s famous iced-mice, which would be handed out at the end of the day when the party was over, and not a minute before.

King Freddy and Queen Suzi were sitting on the royal thrones that had been placed on a small platform in the centre of the flower garden. This was the Queen’s favourite place for entertaining guests as it was a paradise of colours and scents. There were beds of roses of every size and shape, rows of orchids as big as cabbage heads, sunflowers as tall as houses, and blue bells that tinkled in the tropical breeze.

Queen Suzi kept staring at King Freddy - she couldn’t understand why he had his crown tilted right over his left ear. She thought it made him look rather simple minded and told him so. King Freddy just gave one of his mischievous grins and said, “All will be revealed in time my dear, so calm down, it really does nothing for your looks when your fur is all ruffled”, and with that the matter was closed.

Little Bertie, King Freddy’s nephew who had been chosen to present the bouquet of lavender to Queen Suzi, was standing behind one of the rose bushes with Lucky, Amber and Rusty’s black kitten. The two were doubled over with laughter. It was obvious that they were up to no good. Suddenly a voice which was Amber’s cried out, “I recognise that laugh and it usually means trouble!” and with lightening speed she pounced behind the rose bush and grabbed Lucky by the scruff of the neck and carried him off in her mouth leaving Bertie just standing there with his mouth wide open.

It’s a pity that Amber had not arrived earlier – the two mischievous kittens had sprinkled a large amount of catnip into the centre of the bouquet of lavender that was going to be presented to Queen Suzi. Instead of filling her with a feeling of tranquillity it would have the opposite effect, because as everyone knows catnip brings the clown out in every cat. That was just what the two naughty kittens were counting on. You see no one had ever seen Queen Suzi lose her legendary self-control, which from the kitten’s point of view was pretty boring.

A loud fanfare of trumpets was sounded and all the guests looked towards the platform where the King and Queen were seated. Climbing up the four steps leading to the platform in a rather unsteady manner was Boris, who had been given the honour of singing the national anthem. It was obvious that he had put more than a few drops of vodka in his saucer of coconut milk that morning as before arriving at the microphone he gave an enormous hiccup.

There was total silence now, as the cats felt great pride in their national anthem and everyone was hoping that Boris would not make a mess of things. A quick check to make sure the microphone was working then Boris pulled in his stomach, threw back his shoulders, opened his mouth, and started to sing,

Cat Island, Cat Island
My land and my home
No more will I wander
No more will I roam.

For here we are safe
From dangers and harms
We’ve food in abundance
And beautiful palms

King Freddy and Queen Suzi
Take care of our needs
And so three meows
For all their good deeds
MEOW, MEOW, MEOW!


There was a moment of silence and then Queen Suzi raised herself from the throne and thanked Boris for his beautiful deliverance of the national anthem. Boris bowed to the Queen and made his way down the steps feeling very proud of himself and a lot calmer now that it was all over.

Queen Suzi cleared her throat, fluffed up her tail and began her welcome speech to her guests

“King Freddy and I are delighted to see you all here once again at this years Cat Pride. We sincerely hope that you will all have a simply wonderful day. Enjoy the food, enjoy the concert, and do try and take part in as many activities that have been prepared for you.

“I’d just like to add that you may admire the beautiful flowers that are growing in the Palace grounds but it’s strictly forbidden to pick any. Anyone caught doing so will be punished accordingly.”

And on that light note she ended her speech and sat down again awaiting the presentation of the bouquet.

As Bertie approached Queen Suzi with the bouquet of lavender he looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He gave her a quick little bow and handed her the bouquet. In turn she inclined her head a little, thanked him, and slowly lifted the catnip sprinkled lavender up to her nose and inhaled the fragrance, not once but three times! It didn’t take more than ten seconds for the catnip to take effect. She suddenly threw herself onto the floor and started rolling around from side-to-side purring loudly. As if that wasn’t enough she then raised herself up onto her back paws and started chasing her tail round and round. She was quite oblivious to the screams of laughter from all the cats that delighted in finally seeing Queen Suzi lose her legendary cool and composure, without quite understanding why.

King Freddy decided that this was the perfect moment to reveal his little surprise. He stepped in front of Queen Suzi and slowly lifted his lop-sided crown off his head. All the cats fell silent as the King uncovered an enormous bright gold earring dangling from his left ear!

“We have to move with the times my friends”, he said. And with that a new fashion was started on Cat Island.

The rest of the day flew past, as the cats watched the cabaret, listened to the cat’s chorus and participated in all the fun and games. Needless to say all the delicious food was gobbled up and now it was time to go home, but not before receiving the long awaited iced-mice. One by one the weary but happy cats strolled past the grand food table where Amber and Tilly were handing out the iced-mice that had been individually placed in turquoise shells to commemorate Cat Pride’s 125th anniversary.

Everyone agreed that it had been a wonderful day and that they were very lucky to live on Cat Island.


All rights reserved. Copyright Helen Nyman 2007