Do You Want to Hear a Story?

For the month of September through the first week of October, Mom's been part of an event called Short Story Writing Month. She was only able to write one short story during that time because for most of September, she was rough-drafting a new novel.

But here's what I'm getting to: Mom's short story is about me! Isn't that great? It's called "Twice-Blessed" and is a speculative tale about what I might have gone through before showing up on Mom and Dad's back porch as a stray cat last year. In the story, I'm called "Lulabelle" or "Lula" before my name becomes Marilyn MonREOW.



Here's an excerpt:

On her way to the couch, Lulabelle’s longtime friend wobbled. “I’m dizzy,” she said, her voice breathless. “I need to lie down for a while. I’m glad I’m going to the doctor next week.”

Lula twitched her whiskers as Mabel lay down on the couch, covered herself with a quilt, and went quickly to sleep. Mabel had been getting dizzy more and more often, and she’d been especially dizzy today. Beside herself with worry, Lula jumped onto the couch, curled herself up on Mabel’s chest – it felt so frighteningly frail – then she tucked her head under Mabel’s chin and purred, hoping her purrs would help Mabel feel better.

Mabel shifted slightly in her sleep and put her thin arms around Lula. Lula loved it when she did this. Lula and Mabel had been together a long time, over ten years. Mabel called herself an old lady, though Lula didn’t know what an old lady was. Mabel was all Lula had ever known – well, Mabel and her friends. Florence and Angela called themselves old ladies, too. And if all old ladies were like Mabel, Florence, and Angela, then Lula loved old ladies. They had warm hearts and gentle hands.

But Mabel had a nephew, too – his name was Fred – and whatever nephews were, if they were all like Fred, then Lula didn’t like them one bit. Whenever Fred came over, he treated Lula as if she were a pest, and he tried to convince Mabel to move away into a “nursing home”, whatever that was. Lula did know that Mabel didn’t want to go to one, and Mabel had also told Lula that the biggest reason she didn’t want to go to a nursing home was because she wouldn’t be able to bring Lula with her.

What a terrible thought. Lula couldn’t imagine life without Mabel. And she didn’t want to.

If you'd like to read the rest, go here: Twice-Blessed.

Next, Mom's going to write a speculative tale about MaoMao's journey to our house and post it to her short story blog. Mao is very excited!

Darling Mickeybear, my wonderful, warm, Whitester mancat, I so enjoyed snuggling on your wall with you!