Series: Shady Cat

I started to write out some of the short ‘mitsi’ stories I tell my daughter before bed, which often feature Shady Cat, who has a striking similarity to her cat Hinata. If you don’t know about mitsi, they are basically a type of parable but without the connection to any particular morality. The beauty of a mitsi is they can be as short or long as you want, and you can change them to fit your audience as you go, or even just make the whole thing up on the spot, which is often what I do. You can read a small portion of her adventures in the link on the top the page, but understand these are just an outline- I often change the story midstream and also take cues and ideas from her as she jumps into the story. For instance, Sun Dog; Shady Cat’s nemesis, is entirely her creation- and he will be back for more soon!

Illustration by Marta Taylor, Instagram @marta.taylor.draws https://martataylordraws.wixsite.com/martataylor

The Tail of Shady Cat

Shady cat woke up one morning and she was missing her tail.

So very said she cried and cried, looking for her precious tail!

How could it be missing she wondered, where could it have gone!

“Nyyahhh nyyahha nyyahhh,” crying was not helping at all

So she stopped crying and thought back to the last place she had seen it

“Right before bed!” she thought to herself.

She surely had it as she remembered curling up with the tail wrapped around her!

Only one place to look: “Someone must have taken it in my dream!”

So Shady Cat curled up, a bit sad sad without her tail, and went back to sleep.

Shady Cats are very good at sleeping and at dreaming

Soon she was snoring and fidgeting her little paws because she was chasing the thief!

It had HER tail on IT’S butt!

So she raced and raced, chasing her tail but no matter how fast she ran, it was always ahead!

If she went faster, it went faster, if she went slower, it went slower.

But Shady Cat did not care, she was not mad or sad anymore! She was having fun!

Just then she heard someone call: “Shady Cat! Food time!”

Shady Cat jumped and ran to get food, her tail swishing happily behind her.

THE END

Illustration by Marta Taylor, Instagram @marta.taylor.draws https://martataylordraws.wixsite.com/martataylor

Shady Cat and the Sun Dog

As you certainly know, Shady Cats love the shade on a hot day

But today was very different.

The Sun was high and bright, but there was no shade!

Oh this made Shady Cat very mad.

How could the sun be up, but there be no shade under the tree-

Or under the chair, the bench, the flowers, or table?

She searched low and high, and everything between –

Until she found the problem: Sun Dog was on the roof!

“Sun Dog!” she cried, “Mraww Mraww!”

“If you are here on the roof, that makes two suns!”

“How will I ever get any shade?”

Sun Dog jumped up and down and happy happy happy!

He wagged his tail and said,”Come play with come play with me”

So Shady Cat said,” Sun Dog! Come back at night!”

“Two suns is too much! It’s too hot for me to play.”

“Come back at night and I can play with you!”

So Sun Dog jumped for joy and ran off and Shady Cat got her shade.

She slept all day in the cool shade until night fell.

And then quick as she could, she ran inside the house and hid from Sun Dog.

Because Shady Cats do not like to play with Sun Dogs.

THE END

Shady Cat and the Lost Fish

Shady Cat, you may know, often loses things.

Today when she woke up, her Fish was gone!

She really loved that fish.

She had been saving that Fish to eat, fattening him up every day!

Feeding him Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

But now the bowl was empty,

no matter how she looked, he was not there.

Shady Cat looked all over the house, out in the yard, up and down the street!

But no Fish.

So she went back to the bowl and asked the Frog

Have you seen my Fish?

And the Frog said: “No, I have not seen any Fish.”

“But if you could please feed me now

it’s time for my Breakfast.”

THE END

Shady Cat and the Mouse

Shady cat woke up from her afternoon nap

She almost went right back to sleep as the sun was high

and the shade was cool and so very comfortable.

But she heard something rustling and bustling near the old oak tree

What could it be? Shady Cat was curious, and also excited

Could be a bird, a squirrel, or a mouse or rat, or maybe even a rabbit!

She liked to play with all of these squeaky things,

and after playing, she would get so hungry she would gobble them right up!

So Shady Cat jumped to the shade of the tree, as Shady Cats can.

But the sound was not in the tree, it was in the bushes below.

So she jumped to the shade of the bushes, and laid down flat so as not to be seen

There, under the bush, as a big fat and very happy looking Mouse, eating bugs!

Shady Cat was excited! But she kept still her swishing tail

and moved slowly forward.. careful to make no noise!

And she POUNCED! Nyahhhh~! Got you!

In her head she was already throwing the mouse up in the air,

catching and playing, and hearing its cries.

But the mouse suddenly curled up into a ball,

And Shady Cat’s paw hit spikes! Nyah Nyah Nyah!

That hurts! This mouse is covered in spiky spines!

Shady Cat did not like this mouse at all.

So she went inside the house and yelled Nyah Nyah Nyah!

Until someone gave her some love for her hurt and some kibbles for her hungry stomach

But Shady Cat forgot the next day and Spiky Mouse was ready.

THE END

Shady Cat goes to a Party

Shady Cat was out on the prowl,

looking for some fun and maybe to find Sun Dog and steal his bone,

which would be very funny.

She jumped over a fence, ran across a shed roof, then down to the ground

where she smelled something very interesting

Yes, there was a cat yowling party planned tonight on the roof of a neighbor’s house!

(Cats leave notes by smell…. by which I mean, they piss on things)

The address was <insert your address here> and she was excited.

So very fun to yowl and screech all night on a neighbors house!

Shay cat ran to the address and sat on the roof and waited.

But no other cats came. Soon the moon came up and darkness fell.

Still no other cats. So Shady cat just howled and cried on her own

“yawwwwwwllll, yyyaaaaaaawwllll!”

Inside the house she heard people yelling something about a cat

This jsut made her yowl even louder.

“YAAAAAWWWWWLLLL! YYYYYYYAAAAAAAWWWWLLL!!! NYA NY NYA!”

This made the humans inside even louder.. they also started screaming things.

Great thought Shady cat, we got a party happening now!

So she yowled and yowled and the humans yelled and yelled.

When she got tired of that she went home.

On the way home she saw a bunch of cats on another house roof yowling and screaming.

Hmmm… must have got the address wrong.

Oh well, Shady cat still had fun. Maybe she will go back tomorrow.

THE END

The days were cooling with the coming of fall which suited Shady Cat just fine.  Summer was a lazy time for her, often filled with naps, eating, and then more naps.  Sleeping and eating, when done to excess, can be exhausting and she felt perhaps the longer shadows and colder nights might help instigate a more active lifestyle.  

To prove this point to herself, she played a game jumping from the shade of the tree, to the shade of the slide, to the shade of the jungle gym, then up to the shade by the stairs.  Shady Cats are very good at jumping from shade to shade.  The kids were gone, but would be back soon, this too she knew from years past.  The days grow shorter, and the young ones come screaming into the classrooms, the basement, the play yard, the garden, and the blacktop.  Worse would be band practice.  That she was not looking forward to.  

Shady Cat padded up to the door where yesterday’s offering still lingered, old and spoiled now, and teeming with a thousand tiny black ants.

Late, she thought.  She was irritated but not surprised.  It seemed these days that offerings were decreasing both in quantity and frequency.  Shady Cat had a vague sense that this would have bothered her far more in the past than it does now.  She sighed to herself in exasperation with the world and jumped back to the shade of the stairs, and then jumped to the shade of a desk.  Inside was warmer than out, a sure sign that the season was turning and she wondered if this year would bring snow.  Most cats hate snow, and many hate rain, but not Shady Cat.  She enjoyed the cold, loved the crystal sparkling of ice and snow,  and was not particular about getting wet as long as it was not a full drenching.

Basement, she thought, when the weather turns the rats creep in.

She usually liked to play with them, but today she was hungry, so she nabbed the first furry creature she saw and neatly broke his neck with a stroke of her paw.  Lifting the limp body up she crunched its head between her sharp teeth, working her jaw to crush the skull and release the juices inside.  Shady Cat was careful to eat around most of the hair, and left the bladder, kidneys, and portions of the intestines on the floor as her own offering.   The ants would be along shortly.  The hair and skin she dragged up to the first floor and left in the hallway for the people to find.  A little reminder of why they should not forget to keep the offerings fresh outside.  

The school was nearly empty, but they would be along soon enough to notice her little act of spite and that made her smile.  Shady Cat was just about to jump to shade when she noticed someone standing very still.  The kind of still that grabs your attention in how purposeful they are still.  Like at any moment they won’t be still and pounce, so you need to watch out!  It was, she saw, a girl of about half growth with a dark red uniform that marked her as a student.  She was concentrating so hard at being still, and staring right at Shady Cat.

“Hello kitty,” the girl said.

Shady Cat was a bit surprised to be addressed to informally, but these days respect must be earned it seemed.  

“Cat!”

“What?” the girl startled out of her stillness.

“I am not kitty, not for so very long.  I am a cat.”

“You can talk!”

“Oh yes, all Shady Cats can”

“There is more than one of you?”

“No, why would you think that?”

The girl looked confused at this. Perhaps, Shady Cat thought, she is not yet completely familiar with how language works.  

“Are you going to leave that there?” she points at the rat skin.

“Yes.”

“It’s not nice to just leave your stuff around on the floor.  I get in trouble if I do that!”

“I can’t get in trouble, I am a cat.”

“That must be nice.  I wish I were a cat!  Never get in trouble, don’t have to go to school or do homework.”

“Yes, everyone wishes they were a cat.  It’s only natural.”  The girl was starting to make much more sense to Shady Cat now.  

“You must be a magic cat.  Can you turn me into a cat too?”

“Yes I can.”

“Do it! do it!”  the girl pleaded. 

“Only if you do three things for me,” Shady Cat showed her best smile, still a bit bloody from the kill.  

“Ok!”

“But if you fail in the three tasks, you have to serve me until death.”

The girl took pause at this and Shady Cat wondered if maybe she was smart enough to refuse.  

“I have three rules for the three tasks.”

“Go ahead.”

“First, I won’t kill anyone.”

“Done.”

“Second, you can’t ask me to do the impossible.”

“No problem.”

“Third, you are not allowed to interfere.”

“I agree!”

“Ok, then tell me what I have to do.”

It was Shady Cat’s turn to pause, as she had not really thought much beyond just playing a game, but now it has become something serious.  She put her paw up to hold the girl’s attention while she furrowed her brow in what she hoped looked to be deep concentration. 

“First, you must build me a shrine befitting my grace.”

“Second, you must pet me 100 times a day, every day, for a year.”

“Last, you must tell me your true name.”

A whole year, thought the girl, that was longer than she had wanted.  But the deal had already been set, and she could not back out now.  So she squatted down right then and there and began to pet Shady Cat.  She was pretty good at math and a 100 times a day for a year was 36,500 pets, so she had better get started.  

……….

The girl was true to her word and built a beautiful little shrine in the school garden, complete with rope and bell, and space to place offerings.  Around this tiny temple she placed small carvings of cats in various poses, some standing tall, others stretched out lazily or pouncing in play.  Other students joined in, and soon the shrine was extravagant with its own tiny garden path through nine red gates that led to a bridge over a miniature koi pond.  The teachers had joined in at that point and the whole of the school garden soon evolved into the grounds of the shrine to Shady Cat.  

Also true to her word the girl found Shady Cat every day and pet her at least 100 times, sometimes even more, and as a bonus never failed to bring a tasty treat.  This was always her hardest task, but luckily her parents both worked at the school and lived nearby so even on weekends she could come play in the yard and be sure to not break her promise.

Shady Cat, for her part, long forgot she had made any promise at all, or even what terms she had set for it.  She simply enjoyed her new shrine and all the attention she was receiving, all of which, was her due and quite proper.  Every day she laid out to be brushed and pet, and she talked with the girl about trivial things until the snows came and went, the flowers bloomed, and the sun came once again high into the sky.  For all of this, the girl never missed a day despite sometimes needing to cry and plead with her parents to stay.  She missed vacations, playdates, birthdays and sleepovers, but she never missed her time with Shady Cat.  

“Hi Shady Cat,” the girl smiled brightly.  

“Time for my petting?” Shady Cat stretched.  

“Shady Cat, today is August 20!  It has been one year since we made our agreement.”

“So?”

“Shady Cat!  Don’t you remember?  You promised to turn me into a cat if I did three tasks.”

“I did?”  Shady Cat assumed she probably did.  She will say almost anything to get food and love.  

“I built you your shrine, and it’s the most beautiful shrine in the city.  And I have pet you every day a hundred times, often more, for 365 days.”

“Sounds like two tasks. You are missing one!”

“Shady Cat. Don’t you remember the last task?”

This girl was beginning to be annoying.  

“Of course I do!” Shady Cat had no idea. 

“My name is Isabelle.”

With those simple words, Isabelle, whom Shady Cat had always just called ‘the girl’, changed into a beautiful sunflower-hewed Calico Kitty.

Sun Dog Howled at midnight, preferring to sup at the epitome of darkness than the vagaries of between times,  he offered his first challenge to the million stars and the single bright moon.  At his feet a great bluff fell forward, towering above an ancient stone bridge spanning black waters, and he shifted his gaze.  His second Howl was aimed there, a calling out of earth and stone and depthless sea.  Turning away from all things, again he Howled, three times in all; the last in defiance of night itself.   For he was the Dog of the Sun.  

Below the rising cliff three figures paused along the bridging span, sharp spikes of fear pounding from their hindbrains and shivering down their spines, pulsing like ancientrial drums through their bones.  The reaction was instinctual, visceral, and physically painful as it vibrated through every inch of their bodies, from the top of their ringing skulls to the ends of their clenched fingers and tensed toes.  One, a massive man called GraveHead, found himself growling out his own response to the call but kept it contained to his own cavernous chest.  It would not do to alert the TollKeepers.  

“Doren, what say you?”

“Not a wolf –  bigger.”

“Keep it tight.”

GraveHead in the lead, the three moved forward as a unity, hands careful to hold weapons and packs firm to retard the slap and clank of equipment against mail and boiled leather.  Humans were not allowed to cross the bridge and these three knew well the consequences of discovery.  Merin, the female in the group, was the only one to have crossed before, but GraveHead still took the lead.  For the first time since she joined the group, his chauvinist views were working her favor and she ceded the place with relief bordering upon gratefulness.

The howls had shattered something in the night, waking the creaks and groans of the bridge as the dark waters swirled and lapped, patiently eroding what man once built.   The cry of a sea bird rose and fell, impossible to locate in the darkness and the echoing distortion of the waters and the mist.   The City, as they entered it, moaned as if cognizant of their trespass, heaving its breath through the abandoned streets, throwing leaves and debris into the faces of the intruding party.  A black cat with white paws watched them as they pushed through the winds, not a hair out of place as she jumped to the sill of an old guardhouse.  

Merin caught the motion and pointed out the feline figure as it peered down at them in the moonlight.  

“Cat,” Doren supplied unhelpfully.   

“Ferals all over in here,” Merin pointed out.  

“Rat control,” Doren again. 

“Fine!  Merin – which way?”

  “To the left, keep to the water and then up the hill when we see the tower.”

“And it reaches the moon?”

“They say so.”

“Better.”

Shady Cat watched them leave but was not content with the dismissal, following as she might and wants, no longer visible upon their trail.  The Tower of the Moon was dangerous and intriguing, even to her, and her curiosity was up wondering in what manner they might take in dying.  Twice she was almost distracted by rats, but kept her cold and purpose, such that as the three humans approached the base of the old water stained white tower, she was already perched, paws lazily splayed, on the head of Aphrodite.  

“This dirty thing?”

“Aye, it’s as they say..”

She yowled once to draw their attention, then a second time for an offering.  The third time was just a yowl because she thought it sounded fine and proper to have a voice in the world.  

“Is that the same damn cat?”

“Looks it,” Doren, the best one for animals.

“Following us?  That normal?”

“Nothin normal here-  Maybe hungry?”

“Feed it or kill it.  We can’t have it yowling.”

Doren was reaching for his knife when Merin gave a shake of her head and brought out an old scrap of Jerky.  

“Better ta kill it…”

“You might miss,” Merin ignored his sneer as she put her body between him and the cat.  He was not the type to miss with a knife, but she had heard enough stories to know better than to kill anything inside the City unless under threat of your life.  The cat did not look feral, clean and primping on the statue of a naked woman, she looked like a tiny new god perched on a much larger dead one.

“Did you kill her, kitty?” she held out the strip of dried venison.

The cat did not reply other than to take the meat in its needle sharp teeth, ripping it to pieces and swallowing in quick precise gulps.  Satisfied with the offering, one claw fell to the eye of Aphrodite and drewa clean scratch along the time blackened stone orb, transforming it into a dead mockery of her own shining yellow slits.  

“Quit playin and open the damn door.”

Merin turned away from the cat, but not before leaving one more junk of venison upon the old Goddess’s perfectly raised brow, just inches from her now cut eyeball.   Shady Cat did not yowl again, as she was too busy devouring the additional offering, taking more time this round to savor the deep salty flavors of the dead.  

“Lift me up to the window”

GraveHead was nearly seven feet tall, and strong as an ox, so lifting Merin to the window was a simple matter easily accomplished.  Inside was dark, more shadows than light despite the large windows bright full moon that had lit their activities outside thus far.   The angles were the problem, allowing only the tiniest slivers as the tower, which true to its name pointed directly at its namesake, seemingly without regard for the turning of the earth.  To compensate she gestured down for a readied torch, the first fire that they had used, which was casting a wicked warmth of color into the cool white and black of the City. 

“Quick, get it inside-”

Merin did as he asked, taking the torch deftly from his offered hand and jumping to the dusty floor inside, covering its flicker and light from unwanted eyes.  The tower was cramped due to a large brass and hardwood instrument, a concentrically constructed pipe organ, taking up the center of its almost thirty foot diameter.  It was so large that there was barely room to walk the circumference two abreast, though Merin only had to walk a few steps to the front entrance.  Quick as she could, she lifted the old bar that braced the doors closed, noting it could have only been placed from inside.   The three, once in, closed the door and replaced the bar, leaving it in a state that did nothing to assuage any apprehensions as they turned toward the conch inspired organ that dominated the room.    

Torchlight cast high revealed no ceiling on the Tower, just ever extending darkness pierced by long brass tubes of varying length and diameter, all conspiring to create a sense of infinite majesty even to three thieves in the night.   

“No stairs.”

“Climb the tubes?”

“Play it?”

“How’s that work?  

“On the side.”

“This great lever?”

GraveHead moved to work the lever, its size and length seemingly left here only for him.  As he began the long slow pups, a great knocking bgan to emanate from the guts of the instrument as the ancient bellows began to rise from their resting place.  Doren, thinking quickly and following the sound, found a small door crafted into the front, and opened it to reveal inner clockwork mechanisms and a ladder leading upwards.  

“We’ve a ladder.”

“Stop?”

“Maybe.”

“Dammit.  I’m pumping just play..”

Merin was the only one left with hands free so she reached forth with small hands against the large yellow ivory keys, hundreds of them in semi-circular rows like the jaws of an atavistic shark.  She was no player, only able to recognize the instrument from books and research done, never having touched one in all her twenty odd years of life.   The first Tone was low and sonorous, too great and wide to be contained in the tower, it’s waves like the ocean spreading out and beyond, cracking and fragmenting the walls around them.   The second Tone, though higher, flowed like a whale speared by a dingy, ripping and thundering with concussive force tearing the tower to ruins.  The third Tone she reached left and found a deepness that only dreams may live in, removing all barriers until the air vibrating with the voice of a god.  

Three Tones in all she plays, each in  equal parts defiance and harmony with the world that had created her.  GraveHead upon hearing the first tone, dropped his hands from the great bellows lever.   Upon the second he removed his own head, and placed it on the body of a great snake.  The third, he never heard, not able to move past the second where he devoured his own body.

Doren, more sensitive in his ears and soul, felt the walls coming down with the first Tone, and brought his hands to his eyes, willing them not to explode.  The second Tone pulled a living string from his navel, spiralling out into infinity as he began pulling  it with his aching tongue.  The third Tone his string vibrated in sympathy, cutting a red sliver of time into the universe  where his blood may one day seed life.  

Merin saw and heard none of this, being solely part of the instrument she played;  it’s epicenter and not the audience of its word.  Her hand was reaching for a fourth Tone when an answering Howl cuts the night, breaking her from her reverie and pausing her stroke.  About her the tower was gone and she stood alone on the hill under the brilliant white moon, staring into the breach of blood left by her companions, now exited.  Alone, that is, except for a small black cat with white paws, and a great hound of yellow coat and piercing blue eyes.  

“Three Tones is enough,” the hound growls, aiming his suspicion not at the woman at the keys, but the small cat lounging on a great warrior’s body, now fallen prone to the earth.  

“It won’t wake them,” the cat replied pretending to care.  

“It woke the TollKeepers.”

“Not my business…  The little one got it done.”

 Around them figures began to move on the hill, icons and shadows of ancient gods, fragments of history given a ghostly semblance upon the hill of the Tower of the Moon.  They gathered up stones as they walked, now thousands of them, moving up the hill and placing them piece by piece around the still form of Merin and the ancient organ. 

“What about her?” the dog sat down, raising a leg to scratch at a flea.

“She’s a little god now.”

“She made an offering?”

“Yes, it was the flesh of a deer.”

“Well she can’t stay that way.”

“Up to you –  you Howled.”

The Dog of the Sun raised his gaze back up to the fullness of the moon and smiled a long droopy sort of smile with tongue half out of cheek.  For the fifth time that night, almost a record for him, he Howled.  But this Howl was different from the rest, as he Howled not in defiance of the stars, but as an entreaty for fate to do its will.  His Tone was pure, and joined the night like a middle pipe, clearing a path for Merin to walk from the tower just before the doors closed and the bar came down once more.  

“You know I have no control here,” spoke to Cat.

“It’s for the best. Now back off Dog, this one is mine.”

And for the sixth time that night Sun Dog Howled, but this time it was just in laughter as he turned away to greet the coming dawn.   

THE END

Shady Cat Can’t Can

Shady Cat woke up hungry

So she went to the kitchen and cried for food

But no food came…the house was empty,

and so was her poor stomach!

Shady Cat did not give up.

She jumped up onto the counters

searching for food where sometimes it was left

“Ahah!” she cried, “A can of cat food!”

But the can was closed tight.  

Shady cat scratched at it.

She threw it off the counter to the floor.

She threw it against the wall.

She threw it outside down the stairs 

and jumped on it and bit it.

She rolled it about and pounced,

clubbing it with her paw. 

Shady cat was starting to have fun!

But her stomach still growled with hunger

And the can was not opening.

But Shady Cats are clever and she knew what to do.  

She took the can in her mouth,

carrying it like a kitten, 

to the sidewalk outside her house.

She put the can at her feet and 

Started yelling at every person that passed-

“Mraoowww!!   Mraooowwww!! Mraowwwwwwww!”

Until finally someone stopped to help her!

This human is not so bad, she thought

as they used their hands to open up the can

and placed it directly under her nose.

“Nope!” Cried Shady Cat, yelling at the human,

“I don’t like this kind!” 

THE END

Shady Cat and the Shiny Ball

The wind pushed at the tree and

Shady Cat was up late chasing shadows.

One in particular was quick and lively,

flicking through the grass,

jumping potted plants,

racing over rock and earth

So fast was the shadow that Shady Cat had to

run faster and jump higher than as she ever had in her whole life

Two times she caught it! Then a third!

But every time it slipped through her paws!

Finally it raced up a very tall tree.

The tree was so tall it, was taller than all the houses.

Shady Cat did not wait but ran right up the tree.

Shady Cats are very good climbers,

and not afraid of heights at all.

The tree was not only tall, it had a hundred branches

and a thousand leaves.

So full was it that Shady Cal lost the shadow,

but at the very top found a bright shiny ball!

It looked so fun she swatted at it until

it fell in the branches. She swatted it again

and it rolled from branch to branch, bouncing

and dancing its way down the tree!

All round thousands upon thousands upon thousands

of shadows flickers across the world while

Shady Cat chewed happily on the moon.

THE END