CICADAS AND SECRETS IN THE PEACE PARK

CICADAS AND SECRETS IN THE PEACE PARK

THE PEACE PARK CATS part 6

For a very long time the weather was stormy, there were of course hot, blue sky days but not nearly as often as other summers in Gorizia.  The old professor still sat on the bench under the Plum tree. Sunni often slept on a branch in the Plum tree and would drop down onto the grass unexpectedly when the basket arrived.  All through the lunch times in the Peace Park the cicadas sang very loudly and the old professor couldn’t remember this from the past summers.  “Must be getting old”, she thought sadly.

Shadow looked thin and scruffy and was always very hungry and the old professor hoped she had her kittens safely hidden somewhere dry.  Buttercup looked thin but sleek as always and the old professor had been told that she had three kittens hidden in the old, broken car in the car park.  So far the old professor had not seen them and she didn’t want to frighten either Buttercup or the kittens by looking for them.

One day that was damp after a night storm Crow and Crow brought Squawk to the Peace Park.  Squawk was still learning to fly so he came from tree to tree and made such hungry noises.  His feathers were still growing as well so the old professor put Misty’s left over chicken pieces on the wall for them.  She was not sure if there was only one Squawk or several Squawks that looked alike, she was rather hoping there was only one.

The black and white cat decided to take his bad manners away, and Misty let the old professor stroke her after she had eaten which made the old professor very happy.  And then one Monday at lunch time the old professor noticed a new ginger kitten looking at her through the red may bushes, and goodness! There was another kitten grey like Shadow but with a little more ginger.  “So these are Shadow’s kittens”, thought the old professor.  “Now what shall we call you both?”  The kittens were very shy and at any movement ran for shelter under the old box in the car park.  But carefully the old professor put down a dish of chicken and beef beside the red may bushes so they would have food as well.

Late that night while the old professor was lying in bed thinking about entropy and other silly thoughts she remembered Shadow’s kittens and smiled.  “I think the new ginger should be called Honey and the grey, hum this is difficult, Leafy, Lethe no I think Dapple goes better with Shadow”, and she fell asleep happily.

It was nearly two week later before the old professor saw Dapple and Honey again but nearly every day Shadow would eat a little from her dish and when the other cats had gone away for a wash and nap she would take a slice of meat in her mouth and carry it away to her hiding place.  Dapple was the first seen again hiding under the red may bushes and the old professor put out a new dish nearby.  But then Persistence came and frightened Dapple, so the old professor shooed Persistence away and waited to see what would happen next.  Buttercup came to eat and she took a piece of fresh beef away across the car park, under the villa portico, across the gravel and into the high grass near the old broken car.

And then what a commotion!  A new house cat decided to fight Persistence and then Tansy.  Shadow dodged between bushes to take Dapple and Honey to safety and there was a lot of growling.  Slowly every thing became quiet under the hot summer sun.  The old professor placed all the dishes under the May bushes in the shade of the sycamore tree and went home.  There she cooked more food for everyone and put it in her fridge thinking she would go back to the Peace Park again in the cool of the evening.