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kept very calm, we did not have any trouble with her. I
thought perhaps she might panic and scratch, but she took it
all as a matter of course. Now for the eats! We rose from our
seats beneath the bed and wandered out into the kitchen
where supper was ready.
 Old Man's holding forth, said Miss Ku,  wonder what's
biting him now? We hurried up with our supper so that we
could go in and listen without losing too much food or know-
ledge.  Get a move on, Feef " urged Miss Ku,  we can wash
while we listen. We moved into the living room and sat
down to wash after our supper and pick up all the news.
 I'm tired of that car! grumbled the Guv,  we should
change it for something better. Ma made noises, clearing
her throat and all that, which indicated she was dubious.
 Hark at Ma! whispered Miss Ku,  she is counting out the
shekels!  Why not wait? asked Ma,  we are still waiting
for those royalties, they should be here any day now.
 WAIT? asked the Guv,  if we change cars now we still
have something with which to do an exchange. If we wait
until we can afford it, the old Monarch will have fallen to
pieces and be worthless. No! If we wait until we can
AFFORD to do it, we shall never do it.  Monkeyrouse has
been terrible, said Buttercup, changing the subject,  I
don't know what we can do with him. Miss Ku told her,
and it was fortunate that Buttercup did not understand the
Cat language. The Guv did, and applauded, giving Butter-
cup a polite and highly censored translation!
That night as I lay down to sleep I thought how dangerous
these cars were. Pay a lot to have them serviced, and then
bits dropped off and made more costs. It seemed fantastic to
me that people wanted to go careering round the countryside
in a tin box on wheels. Dangerous in the extreme I called it,
much preferring to stay at home and never move out again.
I had done too much traveling, I thought, and where had it
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got me? Then I awakened with a jolt; it had got me to
Ireland and if I had not moved to that country I should not
have been able to meet the Guv, Ma, Buttercup, and Miss
Ku. Now fully awake, I sauntered out into the kitchen to get
a light meal in order to while away some of the night hours.
There I met Miss Ku who had been unable to sleep for think-
ing over the dangerous hours of the day. Monkeyrouse
chattered irritably and  as always with Monkeyrouse  I
heard water splashing. Miss Ku nudged my elbow and
muttered,  Bet the Detroit River has been much deeper since
that thing came to live with us. Buttercup must have gone off
her head to want such a creature!  Hate! Hate screamed
Monkeyrouse into the night air.  Goodnight, Feef, said
Miss Ku.  Goodnight, Miss Ku, I replied.
The next morning the Guv went up to the garage to see
what could be done about the car. He was away most of the
morning and when he came back he was driving the Mon-
arch. The Guv always has a Family Conference when there
is anything important to be decided. That is an Eastern trait
to which we cats subscribe, Miss Ku and I always discussed
things before one of us did anything important. At the
Family Conference the Guv and I sat together, and Ma and
Miss Ku sat together. Buttercup sat alone because Monkey-
rouse had no intellect and merely shrieked  Hate! HATE!
Wanna leave! Dint wanta come!  First, said the Guv,
 we shall have to move out of this house. I understand from
the garage people that the other side of the road is going to
be used as a city garbage dump, they are going to fill in the
ditch with refuse. That will bring hordes of flies in the
summer. Then this road is almost impassable in the summer
because of the American trippers. So  we are going to leave.
He stopped and looked round. No one moved, no one said a
word.  Next, he continued,  the steering has been put in
order on this car, but it will soon want a lot of money spent on
it. I consider that we should go to Windsor and trade in this
car for another. The third thing is, what are we going to do
about Monkeyrouse? He is becoming worse, and as the Vet
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says, he will need more and more attention. Shall we let
that man have him? He knows all about monkeys. For
quite a time we sat and discussed things. Cars, houses, and
monkeys. Miss Ku made notes of every thing, she had a very
good head for business and could always deal with other
peoples'.
 I think we should go into Windsor this morning, said
Ma,  if you have it on your mind it is just as well to get it over.
I want to look at a house as well.  Golly! muttered Miss
Ku,  action at last! They sure are hot stuff this morning.
 Well, Sheelagh, what about Monkeyrouse? asked the Guv
of Buttercup.  We had him to see if he could be cured, she
replied,  and as he obviously is getting no better, and is
missing the other animals, I think he should go back.
 Right, answered the Guv,  we will see what can be done. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]