With apologies to Maya Angelou

Tom lay sleeping in the sun on the grass verge by the garage, when he was suddenly wakened by Charlie Cuddles, the new puppy.

‘Oh not sleeping again,’ said the puppy to the cat, ‘come and play with me’. 

Tom looked hurt.

‘Of course I’m not sleeping, I’m just closing my eyes so I can hear better. Unlike you Charlie Cuddles,’ he said, putting a sneer into the puppy’s second name, ‘I am a wild animal and need to be alert all the time in case of sudden attack.’

For a moment the small dog looked impressed, but then replied, ‘I don’t believe you. I can’t hear anything.’

‘That’s because you’re only a tame pet,’ Tom hissed scathingly.

Charlie looked downcast for a moment. ‘But what were you listening to, could you show me how to hear it too?’

Tom looked uneasy for a moment. ‘Well, it’s quite difficult to explain the mysteries of being an untamed creature; unlike you, I am free to come and go whenever and wherever I please. I don’t have to pack a lead and collar when I decide to move on, or find a bag to put my food bowl in. I just choose who the next lucky human will be to fulfil my needs and ensure my comfort, and give them the pleasure of my company.’

For a moment Charlie looked at Tom with wonder, and then a look of puzzlement came across his face. ‘But Tom, that doesn’t sound really wild, not like a lion or tiger or anything, you’re still’ he sought for a word, ‘dependant’.

Tom felt he was losing the battle to appear superior to the puppy, so decided to change the subject. ‘So, you want to learn how to hear things that you can’t hear now?’ he queried.

Charlie was immediately distracted. ‘Oh please, please.’ he said. ‘What were you listening to when I woke you up, er ... that is when you were laying with your ear to the ground and your eyes closed?’ he quickly  amended.

‘I was,’ said Tom very slowly, while his mind raced for a believable answer, ‘listening to ..... the worms singing.’

Charlie looked at him in awe. ‘No! What were they singing?’ 

‘Well’ said Tom, playing for time. ‘Obviously, again this would be very difficult for you to understand only being a dog, and a very young dog at that, but it was a sort of burrowing song.’

‘I know, I know,’ shouted Charlie gleefully ‘like the seven dwarves going to work!’

‘Really, Charlie Cuddles, you would do much better to stay silent and look stupid, than to open your mouth and prove it. You watch far too much television with your owners.’ 

Charlie looked glum. ‘Oh sorry, Tom, but please tell me what the song sounded like.’

Tom thought swiftly and considered what the puppy had said about the seven dwarves. ‘Well, I think I can do better than that,’ he said finally. ‘I will actually show you how to listen to the worms singing. Of course,’ he warned, ‘you will only be able to hear them humming as your ears are not as sensitive as the ears of us wild creatures.’ 

‘Now, now!’ shouted Charlie excitedly.

‘No,’ said Tom firmly. ‘They only sing at certain times. If you come to this spot at 8:00 tomorrow morning, put your ear firmly to the ground, you too will hear the worms sing.’

Charlie Cuddles felt he would never sleep that night with the excitement of hearing the worms sing the next day, but only being a puppy he slept soundly all night.  The next morning he kept asking Tom ‘Is it time yet’. Eventually, just as the master was going out to work, Tom nodded his head and they both made their way to the patch of grass by the garage.

Charlie threw himself to the ground and pressed his ear hard into the grass. ‘I can’t hear anything,’ he said in a disappointed voice.

‘Patience, oh young one,’ said Tom, in what he imagined to be a wise sort of voice. Charlie fidgeted impatiently for a few moments and then said in a voice of wonder. ‘I can hear the worms singing, well humming, just like you said.’

After a couple of minutes he sat up, his tail wagging furiously. ‘They’ve stopped now, but at least I heard them, thanks to you Tom.’ 

Tom bathed in his hero worship. ‘Well yes, us wild untamed animals know a thing or two,’ he said, trying to sound modest, while Charlie continued to gaze at him, his eyes gleaming with admiration.

Tom continued to sit on the grass patch as he watched the master’s car drive out of the garage with its engine humming, and disappear down the street.

‘Well’ he thought ‘I may not be exactly an untamed wild creature, but at least I know why the caged worm sings.

Leonie Grover is 66 and lives in Abbey Wood, South East London, with her husband Peter. They are owned by a Calico cat who moved in over two years ago, and whose name is Jasmine, but she insists that it is pronounced Jasmeen.

 

 

A Cats Prayer

Lead me down all the right paths,
Keep me from fleas, bees, and baths.
Let me in should it storm,
Keep me safe, fed, and warm.

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