Strawberry the Cat

"Oh.. fish-hooks!" muttered Strawberry, crossly, as the mouse slithered from his grasp and disappeared through a tiny hole in the church wall. Strawberry peered in but he could not see anything, and the hole was so small he could hardly get his paw in, let alone follow the mouse he was chasing. He felt hot and bothered and very cross indeed.

 

Today had started off so well, too. It was lovely and sunny, and the sun had danced across his whiskers, making him dream happy, twitchy dreams before he woke up. Mrs. Armstrong had been making stew last night, so there were lots of tasty bits for Strawberry's breakfast. She was in a very good mood and sang to herself while she got breakfast ready for Mr. Armstrong, Tommy and Grandma. Little Lucy sat in her highchair in the sun and giggled, and Strawberry felt that he was lucky to have such a nice family.

 

Because it was so sunny, Strawberry had decided to take his morning snooze in the churchyard, then catch up on the local gossip with Old Sam, the church cat, who knew everything that was going on. He was just settling himself comfortably in a nice soft patch of moss on a big stone, just about to close his eyes and bask in the sunshine, when he saw the mouse. It came right up to the stone where Strawberry was sitting and stared at him. It seemed to be looking him straight in the eye as if to say, "Silly old cat. I bet you can't catch me!" And with a cheeky whisk of its tail it was off, running through the long grass, as fast as only mice can run. The snooze would have to wait - chasing mice is far more important to a cat - so Strawberry leapt up and streaked after the mouse very fast indeed. The mouse was clever, and lead Strawberry a fine old dance among the gravestones, along the stone wall, and through the grass, until he slipped through the hole in the wall and left Strawberry, all flustered and very annoyed, outside in the sun.

 

Strawberry was now far too irritated and wound up to go back to sleep, so he decided he'd have to try and find a way to follow the mouse inside the church. He'd never been inside a church before, so he was rather wary when he found a small side door ajar, and managed to slip through. Inside the church it was very dark, very quiet and rather cold, and Strawberry didn't think he liked it very much. However, remembering his mouse he took a deep breath and padded very quietly along the stone floor. Although it was rather gloomy, Strawberry's cat's eyes helped him to make out clearly that he was standing in the biggest room he had ever seen. It was very, very long, and very, very high, and was full of wooden seats. In the walls were great big picture windows that glimmered and shone with bright, bright colours. As he stood, gaping around him in wonder, Strawberry's ears suddenly pricked to a slight rustling noise behind him, and the immediately remembered why he was here. All thoughts of the beautiful room vanished, and he devoted all his energies back to the chase.

For a good ten minutes, Strawberry patiently pursued the mouse, up and down the rows of wooden seats, up and down some stone steps, and through some more rows of seats until they finally stopped against a solid brick wall. “At last!" he thought, “I’ve got him cornered!". Just as he reached out and grabbed the mouse he was startled by a loud noise from the far end of the church as the door swung open. There, silhouetted against the strong sunlight stood a tall figure with a bushy grey beard and a long white robe. Strawberry was quite terrified, dropped the mouse and scuttled for cover under one of the seats.

The man stepped out of the sunlight and into the church, and Strawberry could see that he was followed by a procession of people all dressed up in smart clothes. The men were all wearing suits, and the ladies wore pretty, flowery dresses and fancy hats. One lady in a pink hat holding a tiny baby in her arms. Strawberry thought she looked very pretty, and he loved babies because they reminded him of little Lucy at home - even though she was growing up fast and could now sit up in her highchair nd bang her spoon on the table. He was sure that this baby was too young to do that - it looked very tiny. Behind them

came two other ladies. One was very fat and wobbled a lot. She was wearing a shapeless red hat like a jelly, and that wobbled too, as she walked. Next to her was a lady who was very thin, and was wearing a straw hat the colour of

a piece of cheese. She had on a pair of earrings that looked like bunches of green grapes. Strawberry was fascinated to see all the ladies in their funny hats.

His quarry now forgotten, Strawberry crouched under the pew and watched the proceedings with round-eyed fascination. Most of the people were sitting

up at one end of the church, facing the strange looking man in the white caress. Next to him stood the pretty young lady in the pink hat who was holding the tiny baby, and smiling up at a tall young man wearing a grey suit. Strawberry thought that they looked very kind, and that the baby looked very

pretty, all wrapped up in a white lacy shawl. The baby was very quiet, and

sleeping peacefully. Suddenly the strange man took the baby from the girl in the

pink hat, and it woke up and began to cry loudly. "Oh dear," Strawberry began to worry, “I hope he isn't going to hurt it.” The baby carried on crying, and to Strawberry's absolute horror, the man began to lower the baby over a big stone sink full of water! Now, every self-respecting cat knows how horrible it is to get wet, and Strawberry was no exception. The idea of that poor little baby being dropped into that cold water was too much for him.

With a loud screech, he leapt from his hiding place and made a grab for the leg under that white dress. This sudden movement startled the mouse,

who had been hiding behind the fat woman's handbag under the seat. Thinking the chase was on again, he ran right up the fat woman’s leg and across her lap,

up the arm of the thin lady sitting next to her and perched on top of her straw hat. The thin lady let out a piercing scream and promptly fainted, causing instant chaos and panic all around her. Strawberry made sure that the pretty lady had managed to rescue her baby from the strange man's clutches, and took advantage of all the hullabaloo to sneak quietly out of the church.

Outside, sitting on the stone wall washing his paws was Old Sam, the church cat. Nobody knew quite how old he really was, but he was generally regarded as the oldest and wisest cat in the neighborhood. On normal days, Strawberry would be quite happy to bask in the sun and listen to old Sam's tales of the good old days, or some juicy snippet of local gossip, but today he was too full of the horrible goings-on he had just seen in the church.

He leapt up onto the wall, nearly knocking the old cat off his paws, and blurted out a rather jumbled story about mice and ladies in pink hats and horrid old men in frocks who try to drown babies. Old Sam listened patiently

until Strawberry had finished, and then gave his whiskers a final polish before speaking in his gravelly old voice, " Oh , Strawberry, what a big silly you are!" he said, " You've just been to a christening! ". “What’s a chrissythingy anyway? “snapped Strawberry crossly, because no cat likes to be called a big silly. So Sam went on to explain that it was just another of those quaint little things that humans did, and as Church cat he was well used to their eccentricities. The man in the white robe was Reverend Evans, the vicar. He was Sam's human.

"Nothing to worry about, old chap", he finished up. " Any minute now they'll all come out of the church, all happy and smiling, and stand around making a big fuss of the baby and taking lots of photographs."

And sure enough, the door opened and out came all the people - the pretty lady in the pink hat, the young man in the grey suit, the fat lady who wobbled like a jelly, the thin lady with the straw hat who was still looking a little green because of the mouse, and Sam's human, Reverend Evans, looking much less frightening now that he was smiling.

"Come on," said Sam, “I’ll introduce you to my human." He jumped softly from the wall and padded over to the group by the church door. Strawberry wasn't so sure they would be pleased to see him after all the rumpus he had caused in the church, and so he followed hesitantly with his tail down.

"Hello, Sam!” said Reverend Evans, bending down to rub his ears. “And you've brought along your young friend, how nice!" And he held out a friendly hand for Strawberry to sniff.

"Oh, look!", said the pretty lady in the pink hat, " It's that funny little cat who thought we were going to drown the baby! You see, he's quite alright" she said and showed Strawberry her happily sleeping bundle. “I’m sorry lye made you lose your mouse. Come and have your picture taken with us to make up for it."

"Well I never!" thought Strawberry, who could put up with being called a funny little cat if it meant he could have his picture taken. So, chest puffed out proudly and head held high, Strawberry stood on the wall next to the nice lady and tried to look dignified.

"Smile everybody!" said the man with the cameraman. Everybody smiled except Strawberry, because cats are not very good at smiling, so he wrinkled his whiskers up a bit and hoped that would do.

Then at last, all the excitement was over. The people thanked the vicar, patted Sam and Strawberry, then got in their cars and drove away.

Sam and Strawberry trotted back to the sunny churchyard and rolled lux­uriously in the warm, sweet grass. “What an exciting morning!" said Strawberry, stretching his front paws right out, “First a mouse, then a chrissywotsit, and then a photographer".

"Well, I don't know what all the fuss is about," said Sam, who had appeared in hundreds of wedding and christening photos and was quite used to it. "What worries me more is that there might still be a mouse in my church, and I've got my reputation to think of. Are you going to sit there all day, young'un, or do you want a few lessons in mousing from your old friend Sam?"

With that he got up and padded back towards the church. Strawberry, whowas just getting comfy again in the sunshine, let out a lazy sigh, but got up and followed him. After all, that mouse deserved to be taught a lesson, and who knew what exciting adventures might happen next!

 

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