"Willow's Tail"

"What a wicked turn of events,” Martha scowled as her black cat Willow strutted into the room flicking her tail.

“And what makes you so happy?” Martha asked her with a frown.

Willow tilted her furry head, flattened her ears and gave the sourest meow.

Martha sighed and placed the fancy bowl filled with Willow's favorite after dinner treat on the floor as she warned, “You may as well enjoy this; things will not be as bright come the morning.”

Willow saunter over to her dish but before she ate, she gave her human friend an interested stare but only for a second, after all it was her favorite treat in that dish below her nose.

Martha picked back up the letter of distasteful news and read again the unwanted words, the awful thought of change made even her stomach grumble.

“Oh the twisted circumstance of having to see people better left in the past,” she mumbled.

Willow's ears twitched back but her face never left her treat bowl.

The kettle on the stove began to whistle and Martha put the letter down and lifted the kettle from the burner. She poured hot water over her favorite chamomile leaves even as she knew they would do nothing to calm her disconcerted spirit.

“Don’t leave a mess Willow,” she said as an aside to the feline and took her cup of tea into the living room to enjoy.

Martha sat in her favorite chair near her bowed window staring out at her beloved garden. When a butterfly landed on the tall stalk of a cobalt delphinium she smiled sadly. She would miss her quiet times to contemplate; her solitude in the evening was precious to her. Her eyes crinkled at the corners with delight as several more butterflies joined the first.

She was happy here, happy with her ways of doing everything exactly the way she chose to do it. She did not need or want an intruder in her home.

The crash in the kitchen made her jump and with a heavy sigh Martha put down her cup and walked back into the kitchen.

Willow sat smugly on the counter next to the kitchen sink and her dish was now upside down in the bottom of it. Luckily, it had not broken.

Martha shook her head.

“I appreciate your cleaning up but you need to learn to be daintier when you do it,” she said with a slight smile.

Willow did not take offense. She flicked her tail, jumped down to the floor, sauntered out of the kitchen, slinked through the living room to her pet door and jumped through it and into the garden.

A few seconds later the kaleidoscope of butterflies deserted the garden, flying past the bowed window telling Martha exactly where Willow had gone to.

Willow prowled through the tall stalks of Delphinium until she found a particularly nice shaded spot and rolled over on her back to look at the sky through the spiky flowers. It was her favorite spot in the garden and it was easy to jump out at the birds and butterflies from here, not that she’d ever harm them but it was fun to watch them run or fly away.

A beautiful bird of purple and orange appeared overhead. It was nothing like Willow had ever seen before and it landed lightly on the top of a flower then tilted its bird head and looked straight down at Willow.

“Are you the feline of the house?” the odd bird asked the cat.

Willow's ears tilted forward had she just heard that bird talk?

“Yes you did,” The bird confirmed as if reading the cat's thoughts.

Willow swiftly rolled back on her paws while she kept her eyes on the strange bird.

“Oh very well if you will not talk I will just have to ask the human in the house then.”

“Wait,” Willow said in a soft feline voice, “Yes; I am the feline of the house.”

“You are the familiar?”

“Am I?” Willow purred and twitched her tail setting sparks along the flowers to disturb the bird.

The bird quickly flew from the flowers and laughed.

“Now I know I am right where I need to be,” the odd bird said before it turned into a very tall and very dapper man.

“See you inside,” the man said like a challenge then started to walk towards the house.

Willow's eyes glowed under the delphiniums.

“So that was what she was so upset about.” Willow thought as she lay back down on the soft earth under the delphiniums and watched with interest as the man rang the doorbell.