The Cat’s Revenge

Fluffy the cat had a pretty good life. She had plenty of food to eat, and a warm place to sleep. She had humans that liked to pet her long, white fur and scratch behind her ears.

There were only two things that kept her life from being perfect. The first was Jack, the dog, who was always jumping out at her from doorways, barking loudly. It was terribly annoying. Especially since he’d laugh about it for hours afterwards.

The second was the moon garden. Mrs. Banks loved her moon garden. It was filled with flowers with white blossoms. At night, the moonlight made them seem to glow. This would not normally be a problem. Fluffy didn’t even notice flowers most of the time.

However, Mrs. Banks had decided that her pure white cat was required to spend hours with her in the moon garden, just when it was the best time to go hunting or policing her territory. It was dreadfully inconvenient, even with all the ear scratches and treats. Jack, being all black, was not required to sit in the garden at night. He thought that was funny too.

So, of course, Fluffy had a master plan. Cats are masters at developing master plans. If you didn’t know that, you probably spend a lot of time being tricked by cats.   Don’t feel bad. It’s pretty common. A dog might eat your homework, but a cat will change a few of the answers so that you get them wrong. No one ever suspects the cat.

For the first part of the plan, Fluffy waited patiently until Susie Banks put her violin away for the summer. It was left in the closet, forgotten. Everyone in the house was relieved, because it still sounded like an angry goose when Susie played.

Fluffy dragged the violin out and hid around the corner from the water dishes.   When Jack came to get a drink of water, Fluffy pulled the bow across the strings. Jack jumped and spilled his water across the kitchen floor.

He raced around the corner. When he saw Fluffy, he laughed and wagged his tail. “That was a good one, Fluffy. You really got me!” Then he jumped around a bit and laughed some more and licked her fur the wrong way. When he finally left her to fix her fur, he went back to the kitchen and started drinking out of her water dish.

Well, there was always next time. That evening, Fluffy prepared to launch phase two of her plan. The Banks family set the table and then went on a walk while their dinner was cooking. Fluffy watched them go. Once they disappeared around the bend in the road, she hopped down from the back of the couch.

She dragged the violin out the back door, making sure to shut Jack inside.   He didn’t know how to open doors, so he couldn’t come out and get in the way. She heard a thump and looked up. Jack was perched on top of the kitchen table, wagging his tail. When she looked up, he barked and his tail wagged faster.

Fluffy sighed and ignored him. She hurried to the side gate that connected to the shared pasture. Goldie, the neighbor’s cow, was there grazing. She unlatched the gate, dragged the violin around to the other side of the field, and then pulled the bow across the strings. Goldie darted through the gate.

Fluffy carefully herded Goldie over to the moon garden. She didn’t care if the cow ate it or trampled it; she just wanted it gone. When the cow was finally right next to the garden, she pulled the bow as sharply as she could over the strings. The cow leapt right over the moon garden.

Jack was laughing loudly from inside the house. As Fluffy watched, he laughed so hard that he fell off the table, taking a plate and spoon with him. Fluffy huffed and turned back to the cow. Patiently, she herded it back, but it turned at the last minute.

There wasn’t time for a third attempt. She could hear yelling from the neighbor’s yard. Fluffy shoved the violin under the bench and curled up on the seat looking innocent. There was always next time.