IS it TRUE that CATS have NINE LIVES ?- Original Artwork and content

A lighthearted look at the nine lives of a cat theory.
Collected short stories of near misses and close shaves
that owners have experienced with their cats.

This was a book idea I was working with 25 years ago. I sent the book to several publishers and actually got a very good response from quite a few of them.
However, although they said they enjoyed the stories and the illustrations, apparently,
at that time at least, there was no market for such a book.
"Perhaps in the future if public taste in humor changes."  Said one publisher.

Well now it is 2017 and attitudes and opportunities in publishing have changed.
Indeed, for now I have the opportunity to publish my work on the greatest media platform on the planet. And the attitude of Steemit is to be yourself, express yourself and confess yourself, however you wish.

STORY (1): TOBY:- Curiosity almost killed the cat.

In 1919, Mrs Harker´s beloved cat, ´Toby´, was, to all who knew him, a very curious cat.
But it was curiosity that almost killed this curios cat.
"Eve since he was a kitten, Toby would always intently watch whatever you were doing.
He would sit there and watch for hours, but the moment your back was turned, he would try to copy you."  Explained Mrs Harker.

Sadly, it was this intense curiosity inherent in Toby that lead to lead to his terrible accident.
Here Mrs Harker herself explains what happened on that fatal day.

"I was cutting some slices of bread for the evening meal and as usual Toby was sat watching me. It was funny to see his head move quickly from side to side as the knife moved forwards and backwards.
I went to fetch some butter from the fridge but when I looked in I saw that there was not enough. And so I decided to run to the local grocery store before it closed.
It was only on the corner so and I would only be gone for a few minutes at the most.
However, there was a queue and so it took me a it longer than I expected. 

When I came back I was greeted with the most horrific sight.
There on the kitchen table was poor Toby lying there, crying in pain, and cut to ribbons. There seemed to be pieces of him everywhere, and blood all over the place.
It was a gruesome gruesome sight."  Told Mrs Harker as she held a handkerchief to her eye.

Toby was rushed to the nearby animal rescue center and received immediate emergency surgery. The veterinary physician battled to save Toby´s limbs but it came to no avail.

Toby survived his terrible ordeal and lived for another seven years. He still remained curious as to what others were doing but now he had stopped trying to copy them.

Toby became a bit of a favorite with Mrs Harker´s neighbors, some of whom were ex-soldiers from the First World War. I suppose they associated with Toby as some of them carried scars themselves. And so whenever they saw him clomping along they would welcome him as one their own.
"Here comes the old wounded soldier."  They would say.
It was somewhat funny as well as a little sad to see the wounded soldier watching the birds in the garden.
"His bird catching days were over. He was too slow and they could hear him coming from a mile away"  Said Mrs Harker, who never quite fully forgave herself for leaving her cat alone with a knife that day.

Here below is an old Black & White photograph of the curious cat
taken the day he came home from the cat hospital.
Note: The photo has been hand tinted with colored inks.

STORY (2): JOHNNY:- Paws for thought before you act!

A newspaper columnist, a certain Mr Dodderidge, had found ´Johnny`, when he was just a teeny tiny little kitten.
The poor creature had been left abandoned inside a plastic carrier bag on the busy London underground railway network.
Mr Dodderidge lived in London and every day he traveled on the underground to his job at the Times Newspaper. Here Mr Dodderidge tell the story:
"I was returning home and waiting at Fleet St station.
I began to hear a strange squeaky crying sound but could not tell where it was coming from.
I looked around and then noticed a plastic carrier bag lying on the floor.
It seemed to be moving.
I peered inside and there was ´Johnny´ looking like an old washed-out sock.
He looked up at me and gave this pathetic ´meow´ and there was no way I could leave him there after that.

My plan was to clean him up and take him to the cat home the next day.
However, things did not go according to plan. The reason being that I became so busy at work that I had no time to take the stray cat anywhere.
And so time passed by and everyday the little beggar would greet me at the door and entertain me with his hysterical antics. After a week of this he managed to creep his way into my heart and I couldnt part with the little fellow.
I live alone you see and so after a while he became like a close friend. I will admit to you now that I even talk to him like a person. You may laugh but I swear he understands me".  
Smiled Mr Dodderidge

However, it was Johnny´s  "antics"  that caused him to have a somewhat of a painful accident.
And this accident not only left Johnny with a saw paw but a sore pride as well.

"Johnny is just one of those cats who will always have to learn things the hard way."
Sighed Mr Dodderidge.
"You see, I was cooking our my favorite meal, Spaghetti Bolognese if want to know. Anyway the smell was driving Johnny crazy. He kept running in like a wild animal and getting under my feet.
I told him to be patient but he was not born with much of that Im afraid.

I´ll bring it in when it´s ready!  I kept saying, but he just would not listen.
I am sure the neighbors, who lived in the apartment below, knew whenever we had Spaghetti because they could surely here incessant thudding on their ceiling from Johnny running around. They never once complained though.

I used to put a small stool next to the oven so he could have a closer look. The thought behind that was so that he could see when the meal was almost done and help ease his impatience.
This idea proved to me a bad idea.

As I say, Johnny was running around the kitchen like a mad dog and jumping onto the stool an sniffing the air. This time though he was not satisfied with only sniffing and reached out to grab hold of the pan.
Over the years I had gotten to know all of Johnny´s various kinds of meows and sounds, but the cry he made at that moment I had never heard before and never want to hear again.
The pan went flying and so did Johnny.

I immediately took him to see the cat doctor who treated his paw for minor burns.
The kind doctor firmly told Johnny to: ´stay clear of boiling pans in future´.
But I could see he was not listening As I said, some cats just have to learn the hard way.

When I told my colleagues at the newspaper, Joe the cartoonist thought it was hysterical and did a drawing of the event for me. (see below).
I have it on the kitchen wall to this day to remind me to be extra careful at meal times" Laughed Mr Dodderidge.

     

Artwork and stories are my own.
Thanks for reading and thanks for visiting.

Two more cat-astrophes tomorrow.