(This will be the first of two postings today because I’m fixing up the numbering system and having two postings on one day is the easiest way to do it! Sorry about that – I usually have a personal rule of only one posting a day!)
Philippa’s parents went overseas on the trip of a life time. What to do with seven year old Philippa? I know, said Philippa’s mother, she can stay with Aunt Sylvia.
Aunt Sylvia can she stay for around two months? And can she bring her cat?
My apartment is very small but of course she can bring her cat. I have a cat myself. They will be company for each other.
Philippa’s cat is very young; barely out of the kitten stage.
After two weeks she was pregnant. Not Philippa, silly. Not Aunt Sylvia; she was seventy-two. The cat! Within two months the cat had three kittens. They were so cute! One of them looked remarkably like Aunt Sylvia’s cat – which was impossible because Mephistopholes had been neutered.
One day, after several weeks, while Philippa was at school, Aunt Sylvia took the kittens to the pet shop. But the pet shop was overcrowded as were all the other places that cared for cats. Aunt Sylvia took them to the veterinarian. Vets always cost the earth.
Philippa came home from school. Oh! cried Aunt Sylvia. She was very upset. The cat must have been too young to produce enough milk. Shall we bury them in the garden and plant some flowers?
They did that, and the following week Aunt Sylvia was so relieved when Philippa’s parents came home from their trip of a life time.
I try to make one post a day, also, but I have a hard time coming up with two. Will the second post today explain about the numbering system?
While the ending of your story today might shock other readers I grew up where it was a way of life. Not out of cruelty but just because if the cats have no home and you already had a couple of good mousers, something had to be done.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes – I grew up with that too – and it was the days before veterinary surgeons did operations. Mind you, we also grew up from an early age having to kill and pluck the chickens etc.
Re the numbering system; I am around 40-50 days ahead. Yesterday I missed a story number because of the music posting. It would take hours to change the number of every posting in waiting, so I simply posted yesterday’s story as well as today’s!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Okay, that’s interesting. I guess it never occurred to me to number my posts, although up until August of last year I never really worked very consistently on it, so I don’t know if it would do any good for me anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I started numbering things about a year after I started because I was getting muddled.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s a sneaky way to explain your muddleheadedness, BA.
This story will linger in my mind for along time. The mystery pregnancy is top of the list of issues to ponder.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to have made you ponder!
LikeLike
The immaculate cat-ception! Ok… I know it’s bad but it’s all I got.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll make an exception to your catception.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well many thanks Bruce! May the cat never get your tounge
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the good wishes Max!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a good thing Phillippa wasn’t a farm kid. I think she would have wised up to what was going on pretty quick.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, too true. The story is modeled on my twin cousins who stayed with us for 6 months with their cat way back in the early ’60s. Cat AND kittens sadly died.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some mysteries will never be solved.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Philippa was fortunate to have escaped the clutches of the scheming aunt. Come to think of it, all that could have happened to the others in the family!
LikeLiked by 1 person
In my earlier reading, I had missed the irony of the title. I pray not to be taken to the vet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I went to the vet’s this morning on behalf of the dog – and it was a wholesome experience.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope it was just a routine vaccination trip.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A flea pill!
LikeLiked by 1 person