‘I’m not being bolshy, Dad. I’m upset.’
‘What about?’
‘STUFF.’
‘What stuff?’
‘Stuff you don’t understand.’ TammyLee turned and marched off, her face set like a doll. ‘OK, OK, I’m going home.’
I hesitated. I wanted to follow, but instead I watched the man walk after her, muttering something about teenagers. He looked bewildered and he didn’t give me a passing glance.
I sat on the wall, thinking, as I watched them go down the street. I was a lucky cat. I had a decent home with an old lady, even if she did call me Fuzzball. She fed me and fussed over me, I was safe there, and I was free. Right now, I loved being out in the moonlight, so, yes, I was going to see what was in that bag. I could feel it drawing me, calling to me.
Wild creatures lived on the common; foxes, rats, stoats and weasels. And crows. Something in that bag was alive, and I had to get to it before they did. With my tail looped and my ears flat, I bolted back across the common, and when I came close to the elder tree growing out of the wall, I was spooked and flattened myself against the ground.
The bag gleamed white against the tree trunk. It was wide open. I stalked it on quiet paws, my whiskers twitching, my fur stiff with nervousness. I peeped in, and drew back, shocked.
A baby. A human baby was in there. Very tiny, red-faced, with its little fists waving. It was cold, and hungry. What could I do?
I eased myself into the bag and covered the baby’s body with my warm fur and my purring. I would keep him warm, show him that someone cared. I would stay there until morning, until someone came.
I settled down to wait until dawn, my warm body spread out like a rug over the tiny baby, and I could feel his warmth under me, the rapid pulsing of his heart. Carefully leaving a space for him to breathe, I shut my eyes and purred, glad to be helping this new little being.
For I knew only too well how it felt to be abandoned.
Before I came to this planet, I lived in the spirit world, and I was a shining cat.
Shining cats are the souls of real cats, living in the spirit world between lifetimes. Some call the spirit world heaven, and in a way it is. It’s peaceful and warm, full of colours and music, and we don’t have to worry about physical bodies. There’s no illness or hunger, no fleas or trips to the vet, and no arguments. We communicate by telepathy, which is easy and quick. And we get to work with the angels and that gives us a real buzz.
In the spirit world I still looked like a cat, but I was very light, like thistledown, and my face was surrounded by a halo of gold and silver, like fur, but made of light. I was a very important cat. I sat majestically on a violet cushion, and all the shining cats in the spirit world would gather around me for communal purring sessions that sent ripples across the universe.
I was the Queen of Cats.
I only agreed to be born again on earth because no other cat would go. The task was to experience abandonment, and then to help reunite an abandoned child with its mother. It sounded impossible, which is why I thought I could do it. No problem. And I had an angel, a new one who introduced herself as the Angel of Secrets.
She was clear as glass and her robe rustled with stars of turquoise, emerald and lime. Camouflage, she said, to blend with the colours of earth’s oceans and forests.
‘When you are on earth, I will always be with you,’ she said in a voice that tinkled like bells. ‘But my colours and my transparency will help me to hide, and you must remember that and work hard to see me. My voice will blend with the sound of rain, and the wind in the leaves, so you must listen for me, and not get distracted by the cacophony of noise that humans manage to create.’
When it was time for me to be born as an earth kitten, I was nervous about whizzing through the star gates, having to let go and burst through the golden web. I didn’t feel I could do it. So my angel led me through a beautiful land where shining cats and dogs were playing and resting, and eventually, we arrived at the foot of the rainbow bridge, which was awesome.
‘Choose a colour,’ she said, ‘and you can just walk over with your tail up.’
I hesitated, staring up at the arched bridge of glowing colours. I sat and watched it for a while, reassured to see other cats, and dogs, trotting over confidently, some going, some arriving. All of them were quiet and peaceful.
‘Once you start, you can’t go back,’ my angel explained, ‘so take your time, and all will be well. Trust me, I’m an angel.’
Still I hesitated, and she said,‘Why not choose pink? It’s the colour of love. You can’t go wrong with that.’
I put one shining paw into the pink light, and before I knew it, I was walking, tail up, higher and higher over the rainbow bridge. Easy! Over the top, and there in the distance, far below me was Planet Earth. I wanted to cry because she looked utterly delicate and complex, her colours magical. Electric blues, rich greens, lemon and lots of white.