Thisbe An Extraordinary Cat Her Adventures Continue...

by Terri Cabral

  Chapter 13: Family Holidays

  In the next few days, I noticed Ana placing pumpkins around the house and on the porch. She hung some decorations on the door and placed a large stuffed black cat on the windowsill.

  Ana saw that I was watching her place the cat in the window. She smiled and said, “Does he remind you of Thomas? I saw it in a store and had to buy it. I hope you like it.”

  I purred loudly as I wrapped my body around the stuffed cat, “Oh yes, it’s like having Thomas here with me. Thank you Ana.”

  “I guess that’s a yes. Well, Thisbe, it’s that time of year. We begin the holiday season. I’m decorating now for Samhain. Soon it will be Thanksgiving then Yule and then the New Year. It’s been a wild year here in 1994. I hope 1995 will be filled with lots of good things. I have to go finish putting more pumpkins outside. Do you and Blanca want to come out and play?”

  I was excited to go outside. I ran to get Blanca who was sitting by Ian at the desk.

  “Blanca, come on, Ana is going outside. I want to show you around the yard.”

  “Okay, Thisbe, that sounds like fun.” Blanca followed me outside into the front yard. I started to walk toward Butch’s yard. “Come this way, Blanca, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. He lives over here but he’s always tied to his tree. He can’t come into our yard.”

  Blanca ran to catch up with me. Butch must have caught sight of the white cat but did not see me. He began barking.

  “Hey Cat! Get out! WOOF! Oh wait! Thisbe? Is that you? Who’s the white cat? That’s not Mooch, is it? I can’t see too well these days.”

  I quickly replied. “Yes, Butch, it’s me, Thisbe. I have a friend with me. This is Blanca. She looks a lot like Mooch but her tail is shorter. Blanca I want you to meet my old friend Butch. Butch this is Blanca.”

  “Hi Blanca. Are you new in the neighborhood?”

  “Hello, Butch, I live with Thisbe in her house. Her people found me and brought me here.”

  “Welcome Blanca. It’s good that Thisbe has some company. All of her old friends have left. I’m getting older. Thisbe you look the same! You haven’t changed a bit in all these years. I’m glad you’re back to stay. How’s your friend Duchess?” He winked, “She’s a pretty little girl.”

  Thisbe laughed. “Now Butch, be a good boy. Duchess is well. I think she’ll be by here again. Peter always drops her off when he has to leave on a trip.”

  Butch coughed. “Excuse me, Thisbe. I’m not feeling well these days. I don’t stay outside as much. My people keep me inside more and more. I’m glad I got to see you and meet Blanca. Have you seen Mooch around?”

  I shook my head. “Not for a while. He was hunting birds a while ago but I caught him. I was looking out the window and saw him so I banged on the window. The birds flew away. I think Mooch was mad at me but I don’t care. No one hunts birds in MY yard!”

  Butch laughed then coughed again. “That’s my friend Thisbe!” He coughed again. It didn’t sound very good. “Thisbe, I think I’d better go inside. I want to go where it’s warmer and I can take a nap in peace. If I bark some more they will come out and get me. Take care Thisbe and nice to meet you Blanca. Woof! Woof!”

  “Take care Butch. I hope you feel better.”

  “Thanks Thisbe. Woof! Woof! Woof!”

  Blanca was very polite. “It was nice meeting you Butch. I used to live with dogs. You are very nice. I hope you feel better.”

  I heard the people in Butch’s house call outside, “Quiet, Butch, we’ll be out in a minute, boy.”

  “See ya, Thisbe. Good to meet you Blanca. Come over again.”

  We both said, “Bye Butch.” Then we ran back to our yard. As we were squeezing under the fence rail separating the yards I heard a familiar voice. It was Mooch.

  “Well, well, well…look who’s here…the bird police. Who’s this? You look like my sister.”

  “Hello Mooch, this is my new housemate, Blanca. Blanca this is Mooch. He lives next to Butch.”

  “My name ain’t Mooch, it’s …”

  “We call you Mooch so Mooch it is.” I looked at Blanca then at Mooch. “Blanca you do look just like Mooch. You’re both white and have that black mark on your head. Blanca has a shorter tail, though.”

  “Yeah, cutie, what happened to ya tail…get it caught in sumptin’?” Mooch said as he sidled up to Blanca.

  Blanca moved away from him. “NO…ah… I’ve… always had this tail. Come on Thisbe, let’s go home.”

  Mooch followed us. “You’re pretty cute, Blanca. Want to play? Come on, I’m not so bad. Race you up the tree…”

  “No”, I replied “not this time. We’re both tired and hungry. We’ll see you another time, Mooch. Don’t be hunting birds in my yard, okay?”

  “All right, Thisbe, I won’t hunt birds in your yard. Blanca, why don’t you come outside tomorrow? We can play together.”

  Blanca looked back to Mooch, “Okay, Mooch, I’ll see you tomorrow. ‘Bye.”

  Mooch ran away laughing, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, Blanca.”

  I chuckled, “Ha! It looks like you have a boyfriend, Blanca. I think he likes you.”

  “Oh Thisbe, it’ll be fun playing with him. You like to sleep so much. I’ll run around with Mooch. He seems more my age.”

  We both ran around the back of the house and called for Ana.

  “Meow! Ana let us in.”

  Ana was in the kitchen and had the window open so she heard us calling.

  “I’ll be right there, girls. Hold on a minute.” Ana came to the back door. As she opened it, we ran past her and directly to our food bowls. We both sat beside our empty bowls looking up at Ana.

  “Ah, okay, kids, I guess you’re hungry. Hang on a minute. I’ll fix your dinners.”

  It was a quiet evening by the fire. Ana was on the phone talking to her friends and Ian was writing at the desk in the dining room. Blanca and I were curled up in front of the fire.

  “I love to watch the fire, Blanca. Isn’t it pretty?”

  Blanca was cleaning her paws. “Yes, I never saw a fire before. I like that it’s warm.”

  Do you want to go out and play with Mooch tomorrow?”

  Blanca chuckled. “He seems nice and friendly. I’ll see if Ian will let me out and Mooch and I can run around in the yard. It’ll be fun.”

  Soon it was Halloween or Samhain as Ana called it. She had some friends over. They sat around, lit some candles, carved a pumpkin, ate some food and drank. They were very nice people and really liked cats. They held Blanca and me on their laps and rubbed our heads. It was a fun night. Ian dressed up in strange clothes and wore something he called a mask on his face. It looked scary but I knew it was Ian. All of Ana’s friends had black and orange clothes on. They said it was the color of the day. They’re a fun group of people.

  One cold evening after Samhain, while we were all sitting around the fireplace, Ana announced “I want to have a big holiday party, Ian. We can announce our engagement to everyone at that time.”

  Ian said, “Sounds like a great idea! I’ll cook up some fancy hors d’oeuvres and some of my specialty dishes.”

  Ana said, “I love parties. I’ll plan it all out and send out invitations. We’ll invite all our friends, some of my relatives that live in the area and some of Aunty Belinda’s old friends that we’ve come to hang out with now and then.

  I was happy to hear about the party. I hope Belinda and Arturo will stop by that night. I’ll introduce them to Blanca.

  The time passed by quickly and before I knew it was the night of the big party. Ana and Ian spent the entire day cleaning and prepping the house. They bought a tall tree and decorated it with tiny white lights. They also hung lights around the large bookcase surrounding the fireplace and placed candles on every tabletop. They added green brush they called evergreen boughs over each doorway. Ian spent most of the week in the kitchen cooking. The house was filled with good food smells. Soon the doorbell began ringing and people arrived
for the party.

  I brought Blanca to the living room and we both jumped up onto the bench under the window to get out of the way.

  I began to point out certain people to Blanca, “My friend Duchess isn’t coming because she is going away with Peter. That’s Ana’s friend Robbie, he works at the vets. You must have seen him when they took there. He’s very gentle. Oh, that’s Ana’s sister. There’s Gary and Roger, they live across the street. They were really good friends with Belinda. Speaking of Belinda! Blanca, look at the chair over there. Do you see the white haired man and the pretty woman standing next to him? That’s Belinda and Arturo. Come and I’ll introduce you.”

  Blanca was a little confused. “Wait, Thisbe, I thought you told me they died. I thought when humans died they went away forever. How come we can see them? Can anyone else see them? Hey, don’t run away. Wait for me!” Blanca jumped down and ran behind me. I was so excited to see my old friends. I couldn’t wait to talk to them so I ran over to the chair.

  “Belinda and Arturo, it’s so good to see you. I knew you would come to the party. It’s like the old days! Belinda, Ian even made some of your codfish cakes! How are you? What’s new?” I was full of questions. I hadn’t seen them in a long time. Blanca just looked on in awe. She was watching the party take place around the couple with none of the humans taking notice of the invisible guests. She was also confused because I could talk to them and they understood me.

  Belinda laughed, “Oh Thisbe! You are still such an inquisitive little kitty! When I was alive were you always so talkative? There were times I swore I heard you talking to me! You look great! Sixteen years is long time to live. Our little Mickey was with us for nearly ten years, wasn’t he, Arturo?”

  Arturo smiled and said, “I do believe it was ten years. He’s here with us as feisty as ever. We see you have a new friend living with you, Thisbe. I heard you call her Blanca. That means white in Spanish. She is all white except for that little patch of black on her head. Hola, Blanca.”

  Blanca wasn’t quite sure what to say. She looked at me for coaching. “It’s okay to talk to them, Blanca, they understand us. We can talk to them and they can talk to us. They talk to the animals on their side too. Hola means hello in Spanish. Belinda and Arturo spoke many different languages. I was learning some of the words.”

  Blanca smiled and said, “Really? Side? I don’t understand. Hello, it’s nice to meet you. Thisbe has told me so much about you.”

  Arturo smiled and said, “Thisbe understands it all. She will explain it to you when it’s not quite as noisy here. It looks to be a good party.”

  Belinda smiled, “I’m so happy for Ana and Ian. I hope they have many happy years together. Thisbe, all your friends and family say hello. Your Mama and Papa are here and of course Muffin and Chipper. What was that, Thomas? OH! He says he likes the stuffed black cat but it’s much too fat to be him. Yes, Thomas, you are very lean and handsome. He says he likes Blanca and is glad you have a friend to live with, Thisbe.”

  I was happy to hear from all my animals on the other side. “Thanks everyone! Love you all.”

  Then Ana called, “Thisbe? Blanca? Where are you two? Oh there you are hanging out by Uncle Arturo’s chair. It’s so amazing to me that no one sits in the chair. It’s as if he’s still sitting there holding court like he used to at his party. Come on into the kitchen, kids, I have some treats for you.”

  I turned to say good-bye to Belinda but as I did I saw Belinda smile, wave and disappear with Arturo. Blanca looked at me and said, “I guess they had to go. Come on! Let’s see what Ana has in the kitchen.” We raced each other into the kitchen for our treats.

  The party was a lot of fun. Ana announced to everyone that she and Ian were going to get married. Everyone put their glasses in the air and cheered. Ana and Ian looked very happy. I guess she found her mate. The celebration lasted very late. When the last guest left, she turned to Ian and collapsed against the door, “Let’s get the perishables into the fridge and go to bed. We can clean up tomorrow.” I told Blanca we had to keep out of the way so we ran to the bedroom to claim our spots on the bed.