Cattail (Nov2013)

Cattail

Hi, my name is Cleo. I'm a cat or as my owners would say, a feline. My pedigree is long, but i don't let this go to my head. My owners call me "mau." i have decided this must be my other name, so i think of myself as Cleo-mau, the 20th Sphinx of the Nile, but you may call me, Cleo.

That stuffy looking fellow over on the floor is Sage-rific. He's a dog..err, canine, however, there's nothing 'rific' about Sage. Shhh, don't tell him that. He believes he owns the place and we just let him think that....for now. meeeow. They say he is a pharaoh hound, whatever that means.

Here on the wall, is our beloved Doug-amon and next to him, our darling mistress, Anna-neph. Doug adores Sage, so much so that Anna often teases him about it, playfully threatening to put the two in the dog house for the night. She, on the other hand, has extremely good taste and prefers yours truly. purrr. This is why i am always curled about her feet.

That squawking and tasty noise you hear is the pet bird, or rather, pet falcon, of Doug and Anna's honorable son, Sten-icasep. The falcon, which Sten calls Haru, is constantly teasing me with his delicious flapping about. i, of course, would never think of sneaking over and taking a nip. Sten would ration my catnip supply and that just wouldn't do. A girl has to keep her coat shiny and her nails sharp.

Oh, i have neglected to tell you where we live. We have a marvelous home on the Nile, situated within viewing distance of an enormous pile of stones known as the Cheops pyramid. Close-by, my ancestor, Sphinx the First, poses eloquently, looking regal and timeless as the day he was carved. well, almost. Some unseemly character deprived him of his most prized feature: his lovely nose! The scoundrel. May a butterfly tickle his ear while he is taking a cat nap!

We get occassional visitors, although the conversation is sparse. They frequently point and mutter quietly too each other and none of them ever bring fish! i find this quite rude. As you can see by looking at the table, we always keep a supply of fresh bread, dates and lotus blossom to share. Our guests, on the other hand, appear to have lost their manners.

One thing i find very curious during one of these visits, is the incessant flashing, as if Ra had left his place in the sky and traveled to our home in a little silver box, appearing and disappering - "click click click," he says, and poof he's gone again without so much as a "hello" or a "goodbye!" Purrhaps he is getting senile in his old age, but i would never say so to his face (the last ones who did met an untimely demise).

I would share the story of the crododile and the serpent, but the day grows thin, and both are dark and sinister creatures of the place below. May Osiris protect my paws! Eek! what was that?! ah, it's just my tail. purr.

thanks for the stars.

the story, for those who didn't figure it out, is from the perspective of a cat, painted on the wall of an egyptian home. all the characters, except the dog, visitors and sphinx, are paintings on the wall. the dog is a statue on the floor. the flashing click click click thing is tourists taking photographs of the paintings on the wall, inside of the house.

I like it. Didn't get he was on the wall until you told us though. :|

Broom
I like it. Didn't get he was on the wall until you told us though. :|

yeah, i realized that after i read it a few times.
shoulda spent more time mulling it over.

reply to post by undo


It's very difficult (imo) to leave just enough clues as to the hook in your story, vs. leaving too many. I didn't figure out all the nuances of your story either, but perhaps that is my failing not yours. Unique POV and a good read.

Cool story!

reply to post by bluemooone2


that is a cute pic.

i should fill in more details

the mau is a breed of cat in egypt.

the pharaoh hound is a mediterranen breed that looks egyptian but is definitely not the normal anubis type of canine (forget the breed -- jackal ?)

haru is the egyptian name for the egyptian god, horus.

and the last people to tell Ra that he looked old,who met an untimely demise as a result, are in the story,
The Legend of the Destruction of Mankind, an ancient egyptian text about the time Ra and Hathor wiped
out so many people Ra was afraid there would be no one left to serve him. But hathor was so busy bumping people off, she wouldn't stop so the people devised a plan to put her to sleep by getting her drunk on beer mixed with blood. weird story.