post 9. The Little Girl and the Cat

There was once a little girl named Rose. Although she smiled a lot and was nice and pleasant to everyone, she had sad eyes. But all her friends only saw her smiles and were dazzled by all the games she knew, and called her the Queen of Games.

One day, the little girl was sent by herself to another house in the country. Her parents sent her there because they knew why she was sad, and they hoped moving to the country would be good for her.

The house was large, dark and brooding. It was too big and empty and quiet, and the little girl did not like it there. She missed her friends and all the fun parties they had.

She started spending a lot of time in the garden. It was always either too hot or too cold in the garden, and sometimes it was so dusty it made her tear. Still, she liked the garden better than the big empty house.

One day, the little girl stumbled upon a part of the garden that she had never been before. This was in the days before when they had gardens that are the size of ten houses. You would hardly find such big gardens anymore. But that was why there are parts of the gardens that the little girl had never seen before. She was only a little girl, and the garden was so big.

Immediately, the little girl knew this part of the garden was special. It was like a secret garden within the big garden, for it had its own special plants that were different from the other plants in the big garden. There were plants that had no flowers but had leaves that were as beautiful and colourful as any flower. There were plants that seemed to have no leaves and only masses and masses of blooming flowers. And once, the little girl saw a flower that seemed to grow only upside down.

But the best bit of the secret garden that the little girl liked best was the scent. It reminded the little girl of watching her mother before she went out to the opera house and would sit at her dressing table and put on her best perfume. And the garden scent was just like that, only better. It made you feel light-headed and happy, but it did not make you feel sick after a while like cheap perfume would. (That is why you must never, never buy cheap perfume.) But it also reminded the little girl of her mother and how much she missed home. So the garden scent made the little girl both happy and sad at the same time. And maybe she cried a little.

After a while, the little girl started playing in the garden because she did not want to feel sad. Suddenly, she realised that there was a cat in the garden and it was staring at her in the intense way cats do. It gave her quite a start because she thought she was alone in the secret garden.

"Oh! Hello, Mr Cat. Where did you come from?" said the little girl, for it was only polite to talk to someone when you realise that they are there, even if the person was giving you a very unfriendly stare.

But the cat did not say a single word, and continued staring at her.

The little girl was a little uncomfortable being stared at, so she looked around to see where the cat had come from. Now, another thing about the secret garden that the little girl had not realised yet, was that it was always night time in the secret garden. The little girl did not realise this even though it was day time outside in the big garden when she found the secret garden. And cats, as we all know, can move very quietly at night and have almost magical powers of movement. So the little girl was probably wasting her time trying to find where the cat came in from, for a cat can walk through a hedge and not disturb a single leaf.

After a while, the little girl grew tired of looking for there were so many plants and flowers in the garden, and it was making her slightly dizzy trying to look for where the cat came in. The cat was still staring at her, and she thought it was the most unfriendly cat that she had ever seen.

"Are you lost, Mr Cat? Who do you belong to?"

The cat did not say a single word, but its stare seemed to become even more unfriendly, as if the little girl had said something impolite.

What a strange cat! It almost seemed to understand what she was saying. It was certainly not a pretty cat. It was too skinny for one thing. And its fur was a strange mix of gray and brown that the little girl had never seen before, and was horribly matted and uncombed. Maybe it was a stray cat, she thought to herself, for the little girl did not see a ribbon or bell around the cat's neck.

"Well, you are certainly the most unfriendly cat I have ever seen!" said the little girl to the cat. "But I wouldn't let you make feel uncomfortable. I like it here! This is such a pretty garden. Only, I wonder who does this garden belong to?" for it had just occurred to the little girl that the owner may be angry to find that she had wandered into his garden.

And the cat raised its head, cleared its throat gently and said, "The garden belongs to me. And you are certainly the rudest little girl I have ever seen."

Of course they became good friends after that.

The little girl was shocked at first. It was not everyday you met a talking Cat! But she was very sorry and apologised for all the rude things she said about the Cat. And she played many interesting games with the Cat that the Cat had not seen before, so the Cat forgave her.

They had many pleasant afternoons in the secret garden. They would play games and have many interesting conversations, and the Cat grew to knew why the little girl had sad eyes, even though the little girl never told him. And they grew very fond of each other. And maybe the Cat was more fond of the little girl than the little girl was of him. Now, it is commonly thought that Cats are cold and aloof, which is true most of the time. But what most people do not know is that if you can win the heart of a Cat, they can be passionate, caring creatures.

But there was something else about the Cat that the little girl did not know, which she should. In fact, it was quite important that she did. But no one ever told her, and the Cat never will.

Cats are capricious creatures and they like to devour the hearts of little girls.


-for "Rose" and all the little girls