The thought of the pilchards started her stomach jumping again, she heaved, vomit exploded from her mouth and pooled on the floor next to her face. Tears ran down her cheek and she sobbed uncontrollably.
* * * * *
�How�s my kitty cats?� asked Edith as she entered the house.
�Prrrrrrrrrrr�, �Meow�, �Prrrrrrrrr�
�Its okay mommy�s home now.�
Edith sat in her favourite chair, half a dozen cats joined her. A few more made figure of eights through her legs. The whole house seemed alive and hummed with the purring of her clowder.
�What�s a matter Sam?� she addressed a big Burmese. Sam was her favourite tom cat. He was the dominate male of the clowder and always took pride of place on the centre of her lap.
He purred and gave her a questioning look.
�She�s gone.�
The cats became restless.
�The doctor said she choked on her own vomit. Never had much time for the wretched child anyway.�
The house buzzed with excitement as the cats seemed to celebrate the passing of Catherine in their own special way.
* * * * *
�What was that Queeny?� Edith asked a pregnant tabby who meowed in response.
Edith pulled herself from her chair and walked to the front door, she looked out through the small security peep hole and saw nothing. She opened the door and looked to the street out front. A couple of kids were riding their bicycles past and another was bouncing a basketball. Nothing that was out of the ordinary. She wondered what the noise could have been, it had sounded like someone knocking on the door. She had doubted that it was as she never had any visitors.
She was about to close the door when she heard a faint meow. She looked down and saw a little white kitten. She bent over and picked up the little bundle of joy.
�What are you doing out there all alone?� she smiled at the kitten. �Where did you wander off from? Where�s your mommy?�
The kitten was tiny it couldn�t have been no more than six weeks old. Its coat was as white as the first winter�s snow, a little pink nose and eyes of crystal blue were the only hint of colour to the otherwise totally white little ball of fur.
She pulled it in close to her breast and gave it a hug. Its tiny claws instantly grabbed hold of her through the material of her dress and sank in deep. Small spots of blood dotted her dress.
�Its okay, I�m not going to hurt you. What shall we call you?�
The kitten meowed.
�Okay Melissa, it is then.�
The kitten purred.
Edith carried the kitten into the lounge room.
�Look what mommy found on the doorstep,� she said as she elevated the kitten above her head and proudly displayed it to the clowder.
Tom gave a disapproving hiss, Queeny growled and the whole clowder turned their backs to Edith and started to leave the room.
�Don�t be like that. There�s no need to be jealous. It�s only a kitten.�
Edith placed the little white kitten onto the floor and it scuttled off under the television cabinet. She could see its crystal blue eyes peering out from the shadows, watching her.
It was the first time that her clutter had reacted in such a fashion, they had always welcomed strays and treated them as one of their own. She was wondering what had gotten into them this time.
* * * * *
Weeks turned into months and still the little white kitten hadn�t been accepted into the clowder. It was ignored by the rest of the cats and had survived only on the meagre left overs that the other cats had rejected. To some extent Edith herself had also unwittingly segregated it, paying little to no attention to it. It became a recluse and preferred to be alone in one of the spare rooms. Spending hours on end sitting on the windowsill looking out and watching as the kids played in the sun.
Then one cold night while Edith was taking a bath the white cat pranced into the bathroom. Tom and a few other cats were lazing on the floor while Edith was soaking her aging body.
Edith who had managed to doze off in the warm bath was startled awake by the hissing and growling. She sat up just as a flurry of felines shot out of the bathroom through the open door. All that remained was one lone white cat.
The cat hissed and growled at Edith in the same manner that it had just addressed its counterparts. It leapt from the floor onto the cupboard that abutted the bath tub.
�What�s gotten into you?� Edith asked.
It hissed and spat at her.
�I�ll put you out if you carry on like that.�
The cat pranced about on the cupboard, its eyes never waning from Edith. Round and round it strutted as it dodged the junk that was piled up on the cupboard next to the hand basin.
The cat looked Edith straight in the eye, �I still can�t stomach pilchards,� said the cat in a nearly human voice.
Edith rubbed her eyes in disbelief, not believing what she had just witnessed.
The white cat lowered her head and with its little pink nose nudged a hand held hair dryer. Without taking it eyes off Edith the cat pushed it to the edge of the cupboard and watched as it plummeted off the side.
The white cat hoped that the electrical lead was long enough.
The fluorescent light flickered on and off a couple of times and then the room was thrown into complete darkness.
I guess it was long enough, remarked Melissa to herself.
Now who�s going to clean the filthy bitch up, thought Melissa?
The clowder was surely going to get hungry soon enough, maybe they will turn to their guardian for a meal.