Neighbourly Chat
(A major digression from) Little Cadet
from The Second Irresistibly Sublime Baby 4 Ply Book
Garter Stitch in Sublime 4 Ply
For Ted, aged one week...
A local story for a tiny new neighbour...
Once upon a time a very long time ago, a kitten came to live in a basement next door. The kitten grew to full size and became an outdoor cat, preferring to roam the gardens at the back of her basement than sit in by anyone's fire. One day her family needed to move house, but she liked where she was and wouldn't budge. Many times the family captured her and took her, yowling, with them to their new home, but somehow the cat always managed to find her way back. The family were at their wits end, so eventually Lily and I - two neighbours from either side - offered to take care of her in her chosen place. In fact this took in our homes too in any case. The family were relieved and accepted gratefully.
Lily lived in the house that is now Ted's - back then, before Ted and while she was still there, Lily and I became friendly on account of the cat.. Lily had a husband, George, who was very much older than herself, and whom I didn't know so well. Certainly I saw him regularly - my children were of an age where I was doing a lot of driving and fetching. Our paths crossed heading in and out of our houses and George was never short of something to say. However he spoke at a pitch that I couldn't quite catch - he muttered... For instance, he muttered as I loaded the car for a trip to the sea, and I might reply with something genial such as ..“LOVELY DAY! GET OUT WHILE WE CAN!”
I might be marshaling kids by him on bikes, and “Mutter-mutter-mutter-muttter!”, he'd remark. “GRAND", I'd venture. "AND THANKS SO MUCH! I HOPE YOU’RE KEEPING WELL YOURSELF!”
Out of the blue he might say “MUMBLE!!!” with feeling as I passed to the shops, and I might reply “OH I'M SURE! TOO RIGHT! WELL, GOOD-BYE!”, perhaps sympathetically rolling my eyes.
The cat was limping one day and I could see that something seemed to be really bothering her. I called at Lily's to let her know that the cat and I were about to make a trip to the vet and it was George who answered... generally he never came to the door.
“Oh, hello George”, I said. “Is Lily at home? I just wanted to mention …”
...and he turned and began muttering back into his house, only for once I was close enough to make him out....
...“Lily!", he said. "It’s that woman who can't speak English... Lily! Come here and tell her to get away from our house!”
... as close as it was prudent to get to the cat...