Kittens

KNIFE EDGE

The cat had walked down the boy's throat and spawned her kittens in the
moist warmth of his windpipe.

I watched him lift his small chubby fingers to feel his neck bulging
and pulsating as the little animals surged and scrabbled inside.

He smiled slowly towards me. 'I want to laugh!, he gurgled. 'I want to
laugh!'

'Laugh then!' I urged him. 'You should always do what comes
naturally.'

Then the doctor strode in and we both glanced up at him, at his
purposeful frown.

'They'll grow,' he said to the boy, sitting down on the chair next to
him. 'We'll have to stretch your muscles.'

The boy kept on stroking his throat as he listened, following the
movements of the kitten's feet.

He tried to reassure himself. 'But they'll come out in a natural way,
eventually?'

The doctor had opened his bag and was taking out his bright shiny
utensils. 'That's not the point,' he smiled. 'They have to be fed, you
know.'

The boy gurgled as he drew breath over the furry bodies. 'We can give
them food, can't we?'

I looked at the doctor for reassurance too but he was studying his
instruments carefully, choosing the right one.

'The mother cat,' he was muttering, 'has to feed them.'

I looked round the room but she was gone. She was a round stripey
animal with a stubby plain black tail. But now she was nowhere to be
seen.

The boy walked over to a chair and taking up a red plaid scarf started
to wrap it round his neck. The doctor pulled it away from him
quickly.

'That's no use,' he said, flinging the scarf away. 'Now, open your
mouth wide.'

The boy stood still and tipped his head back as far as it would go. He
opened his mouth so wide he looked as if he might turn inside
out.

'Good,' the doctor smiled. ' I can see them there, not too deep. I just
need to...'

He took a scalpel and, through the boy's mouth, carefully cut his
facial muscles away from the bone, folding the flesh neatly so that the
blood flowed inwards.

The only sound in the room was a slight slapping. Then the kittens
could be heard more clearly mewing and crying.

The boy had placed his hands on his hips to keep his balance and his
eyes were staring unflinchingly at the ceiling.

'Are you all right?' I asked him, coming closer.

'Yeth', he lisped, his lips still folded back. 'I feel ath if
thomething's going to happen.'

I could tell he wanted to laugh but his head was tilted too far back
and the kittens were flailing around wildly. His neck was bulging at
the sides now as well.

'Ah!' The doctor threw down his scalpel at last. 'That's done it. Now
either the mother cat can get in or we can reach in and take the
kittens out.'

'Which would you rather have happen?' I directed my question at the
boy. But he was slow in answering and the doctor spoke for him.

'I think we'll look for the mother cat and let her decide,' he
smiled.

Then the boy slowly righted his head, carefully holding his folded
flesh in place.

He started laughing, deep down in his throat. 'We don't have to
decide!' he gurgled his eyes smiling. 'Look!'

He slowly lay down on the couch and stretched his small body to its
full length, keeping his mouth parts fully open.

As he lay there, his head on the cushion, a cat's tabby face appeared
in his mouth, holding a kitten by the scruff of its neck.

The cat quickly ran out of the boy's throat and carried its offspring
to a cat basket in the corner of the room.

After giving the kitten a couple of quick licks she turned back towards
the boy to collect the rest of her litter.

She quickly disappeared back down his throat, her tail whisking after
her.

The boy looked up at the doctor, tears of laughter streaming down the
creases in the folded flesh of his face.

'You thee!' he laughed. 'Thee wath there all the time!'

The doctor laughed too as he fastened his bag. 'Well, that's the first
time I've seen the mother cat stay in the throat so long.'

I went and sat next to the boy and held his hand until the cat returned
from his throat with another kitten. Then I took his hand and placed it
on my own throat.

'Hey!' he sounded excited as he felt the large swellings at the front
of my neck. 'What have you got there? Puppieth?'