The Blog

What would you do if you thought your cat had written you a message? How could you prove to your skeptical family and friends that the remarkable event happened, especially when the message disappears?

This is the perplexing problem facing Priscilla, the narrator in “NO SNOW,” my most recently published short story. The story appears in the Winter 2014 issue of The Main Street Rag.

While hanging laundry on a clothesline after a recent rain, Priscilla notices scratches in the mud beneath the line. At first the scratches are meaningless, but then she realizes they spell “NO SNOW.” No sooner has she deciphered the scratches, than her cat, Alexander, walks by with a muddy stick in his mouth. Put two and two together and what do you get? Alexander wrote the message.

Priscilla is certain Alexander is divining the weather and communicating through the mud, but her husband, Marvin, is not convinced. “There is nothing divine about Alexander,” Marvin says, “and what he usually deposits in the dirt tells us nothing except what he had for lunch.” Yet Priscilla continues to insist on what she saw, even though Marvin won’t go look at it, and soon the ground is so dried and cracked it’s no longer there. So Priscilla sets out to get proof of Alexander’s special talent.

First she consults Alexander’s veterinarian to see if he can give Alexander an intelligence test. Instead of testing Alexander, the vet suggests Priscilla get her eyes examined: “You may be seeing things, if you know what I mean.”

When Priscilla returns home from the vet’s office, Marvin has obviously spread the word about his wife’s discovery. Neighbors cluster on the couple’s front porch, ready with plenty of smirks and grins to share their opinions on the psychic cat. “If I had a cat like that, I’d lock it in the basement where it couldn’t do anybody any harm,” one says. “Maybe he’s possessed,” another offers. “Those devil worshipers use cats a lot for their rituals.”

After these encounters, Pricilla keeps Alexander at home and waits for another sign. When a stranger stops his car in front of Pricilla’s house and takes a photograph of Alexander, Priscilla knows she’s become a laughingstock and vows anew to prove Alexander has a gift.

This time she asks her pastor for spiritual intervention. After seeing Alexander, the pastor suggests, “Maybe God’s trying to tell you you need to take a rest.”

On the drive home from the church, Priscilla tries to sort out her feelings for Alexander. She could get rid of him and end the ridicule, but what if he really is trying to tell her something? When she asks Alexander what to do, he just lays his head in her lap and licks her hand.

Back at home, Priscilla tells her husband what the pastor said. Marvin begins to laugh, and suddenly Alexander’s ears perk up. The cat makes a beeline for Marvin, takes one long graceful leap, and sinks his claws through Marvin’s sock to the tender ankle flesh beneath. Marvin lets out a yowl from hell, raises his cane with both hands, and brings it down in the general direction of Alexander, who’s hanging onto his leg. Fortunately for the cat, Marvin’s so off balance trying to free his leg, he barely glances Alexander’s rear end, but seeing the big man trying to flog the tiny kitty makes something in Priscilla snap.

At that moment she knows what she will do for herself and her cat, turning the tables on who gets the last laugh.

“NO SNOW” is a lively tale, and it’s one of my favorites that I’ve written. I hope you’ll check it out and that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.