Nigel and the Adventure of the Cat. A Story.

Once upon a time, in a neighborhood with big trees and small houses, there lived a dog named Nigel.

One day, when Nigel was in his backyard, not a bad place to be at all, a cat jumped up on the fence and looked down at him.

Nigel had seen cats before and had often wanted to investigate these strange creatures, but he never had the opportunity to.

Now, he thought, might be his chance, since the cat seemed equally interested in investigating him.

“Hello, cat,” he called.  To humans, this sounded like, “Bark, bark!”  (The translation is loose but pretty accurate.)

The cat did not reply, instead looking down at Nigel with a rather disdainful air.

Nigel, not at all discouraged, said, “Want to play?”

The cat still did not reply, just flicked his tail.

“I could chase you,” Nigel helpfully suggested.

The cat seemed to consider this, either that or he was just trying to torment Nigel, as cats do.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Nigel encouraged.

After a moment, the cat replied, “No, I don’t think I will.”  He spoke with a cat accent, which Nigel could barely understand.

Nigel approached the fence, hoping he could inspire the cat to play or at least do something amusing.

The cat’s tail flicked again.

“Why not?” Nigel asked when he realized that the cat was not yet persuaded.

“Because,” the cat said huffily, “you, sir, are a dog,” as if this was an insult.

“Yes, so I am,” Nigel told him.  “Boo!” (which sounded like “woof!”), and he jumped up.

Much to his delight, the cat did something amusing.  He made a funny, indignant “meow” sound and scampered away along the fence with impressive speed.

Nigel ran after him.

The cat jumped off the fence and was over on the other side of the street in no time at all.

Nigel’s only regret was that the game had been so short.

He hoped that cat would come again.

He settled down in a shady area and chewed on a stick, listening to the wind through the trees.  It made him sleepy, so he decided he would take a nap.

The End.