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Truffles was an affectionate cat. He always wanted to be where the action was, and this day was no exception.

His man went down to the garden shed, with Truffles following closely behind him. The shed door was opened and the man waded in. There was a strong smell of mice and the large bag of bird seed had been gnawed open. Seeds were strewn across the shed floor.

Truffles went into the shed and had a good sniff and an inspection, but no mice were found.

It was an August Bank Holiday and the weekend was blessed with hot sunshine. The umbrella was the first thing pulled out of the shed. Truffles followed the man as he tried to find the hole in the grass to stick the umbrella into. After some stabbing round on the lawn the hole was located, the umbrella put up and some instant shade created.

Garden chairs came out of the shed next along with some nice comfy cushions. Truffles needed no invitation; he was straight up on one of them where he carried out a bit of light grooming before curling up for a snooze.

After much clattering, banging and bad words, a rusty old metal barbecue was grabbed from a pile of junk in the shed, and dusted off. It was then set up on the patio and the man looked really pleased with himself!

Truffles was pleased too. He was on a comfy seat with a good view of all that was happening. The remains of last year’s briquettes were tipped into the belly of the barbecue. The griddle disappeared into the kitchen for a long overdue scrubbing and bleaching.

“There,” exclaimed the man, pleased with himself. “All we need now are some sausages, burgers and chicken.”

The morning slipped by and evening soon arrived. Truffles was evicted from his chair under the umbrella. Then nothing much happened until the sun started to set on what had been a gloriously hot day.

Now the real excitement was about to happen. The barbecue coals were given a liberal squirting of highly flammable fluid. Truffles didn’t care for the smell of it and moved to a safe distance where a gentle breeze took the smell away.

The man put a match to the coals, which suddenly went ‘woooof’. The man checked his eyebrows to make sure they were still there. After a round of blowing and fanning the coals began to heat up.

The next heart-stopping moment for Truffles was a loud ‘popping’ as a champagne cork shot past his whiskers. By the time Truffles had collected himself, the delightful sizzle of chicken, burgers and sausages was wafting in his direction. Truffles approached the man at the BBQ in the hope of a titbit. But nothing was quite ready yet.

The neighbours came round and were greeted with a glass of bubbly. They admired the man’s barbecuing skills.

Suddenly a burger slipped through the wires of the griddle and onto the hot coals. After a short burst of swearing, the man’s wife took control, she lifted the griddle and picked out the burger with a pair of tongs. The charred burger was put to one side, then everything was back on track again, as everyone was given the signal to tuck in.

In the pantomime, Truffles had been forgotten. It was his turn to perform as he turned on his charm with appealing ‘meows’ and much rubbing round legs.

It worked! Little titbits and slivers were generously handed down to him and were gratefully received by Truffles.

That still left the burnt burger. When the party was over, the burger was cut into little pieces, then thrown down the lawn for the birds, but Truffles decided that it had his name on it.

When everyone had gone and the garden was quiet, the birds started to come into the garden. Blackbirds and sparrows fell out of the sky. But it was the black cat who lived in the garden at the bottom of the garden who seemed to have the best chance of clearing up. Her ambush techniques were second to none as she waited for the right moment to spring. But she’d met her match as a huge seagull landed on the lawn strutting round looking at what was on offer.

The black cat sprang at the seagull, but it was just that little bit too late as the gull, minus a couple of feathers escaped into the sky with a beak full of burger bits.

Truffles chased the black cat off then went hunting for the last scraps of burger on the lawn, the barbecue had been a success.

Carol Lake