Whisker Wisdom Caterview with Crealde! Meet a 19-pound pure white male feline with a real ‘catitude.’
In his opinion, he’s the main character in my Falcon Shifter stories. It’s not a good idea to argue with him.
If you’ve read the Falcon Shifter stories, you appreciate how difficult it was to get him to sit for this interview.
Mostly because it was my idea, not his. If you know cats well, you know they don’t do anything they don’t want to do.
He can come across as aloof to say it nicely. And it always depends on his mood. Graciously, he agreed to our chat. But he had a deal-breaker condition. The interview must be all about him.
Crealde’s human is Echo Stargazer, an eccentric psychic mind reader. They live on the second floor of their charming multi-level old South style home in Nocturne Falls, Georgia. Echo’s Carpe Diem shop is on the first floor, full of potions, oils, costumes, gems, books, and assorted magical knick-knackery. In her private quarters, Echo gives psychic readings.
For this interview, I met Crealde in Echo’s garden behind her home, where he was seated like a palace prince waiting for me to curtsy. (I did not!)
As I ran my fingers through his beautifully long pearl-white fur, I swear his purr revved like a B-52 airplane engine. He suddenly realized how cat-like he was acting and quickly snapped back into character.
ME: Crealde, good to see you. We haven’t had a chance to catch up for several years. How’s it been going for you?
CREALDE: (He gave a long, squeaky, wide-mouthed yawn and a noticeable shrug.) Things are good. The litter box stays clean. I go in and out as I please. I’m fed well.
ME: I would agree with that last point.
C: (Crealde raised a paw as if warning me followed by a ‘meorowoww’ that shook the pen out of my hand. Finally, he spoke.) Ah ah ah. No innuendos about my size.
ME: I didn’t mean is as fat shaming. But you realize you have a bit of a reputation. For those who can see you, and not everyone can, you are quite…big.
C: May we move past this, lady!
ME: (With a wink to you, reader. A character once compared his size to a child’s ottoman.) I understand you still live upstairs over the Carpe Diem. At one point Echo took a little jaunt back to China. Did she ever return?
C: I do and she did.
ME: Can you elaborate? How much did she tell you about her extended trip?
C: Not much to tell. She ran off with her Tai Chi instructor and then came back.
ME: So that our readers don’t get the wrong impression, she didn’t exactly run off with him in the romantic sense, Crealde. Echo is at least in her late eighties and practices Tai Chi weekly with Master Cheng and has done so for years. One day, with no warning, she left a note saying she’d traveled back to China—that is, back to China three hundred years ago with Master Cheng. She made one brief return visit and another for her granddaughters’ weddings, but I never heard if she returned for good.
C: If ‘for good’ means ‘forever,’ I tend to doubt it. I can assure you she is back for now. Business is going well. Her psychic reading schedule is packed. It’s too full if you want my opinion. Always someone tramping in and out. It’s hard to get a good day’s sleep.
ME: To follow up. It’s been said that you have three waking faces. Sleepy. Angry. Skeptical. Is that a fair assessment?
C: (He cocked his head to the side and thought a moment, then I swear he gave me the slant eye.) Fair, indeed. But I’d add another: bored.
ME: I’ll pass on guessing what face you’re showing now. Anyway, most residents in Nocturne Falls have some type of magical gift. The rest are regulars who are aware that magic exists, especially here. Does it bother you that you don’t have a gift?
C: (He dipped his head, adding a disgusted headshake.) Hello, human writer! Are we not talking right now? And nobody can see me unless they are magical. That means, I’m INVISIBLE! Besides, all cats are innately magical. I understand humans—all kinds of them—just fine. Probably better than they know themselves. I simply choose not to talk to them. Consider yourself lucky.
ME: Fair points. And I appreciate you’re honoring me with this conversation. Are there any magicals you really can’t stand?
C: I am not fond of anything that shifts into a critter with claws or talons that would consider me as their dinner. The exception is the Ford family. They are all falcon shifters, but to my knowledge, they’ve never snacked on a cat or dog. So far. But I like them.
ME: Good thing since the Ford brothers married Echo’s granddaughters. How are they doing, by the way?
C: You keep asking about everyone else. Our deal, remember? (Crealde made another noisy yawn.)
ME: I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m sure you have a tight afternoon schedule. Is there anything else I should mention to our readers before we end?
C: (He made a long, languid front and back stretch.) Nope.
With that–and nothing more, Crealde trotted away, his backside to me, and his tail lifted straight up. Evidence to me that this was the ‘end.’ He stopped halfway and flashed a glance over his shoulder.
C: This went well, don’t you think?
ME: Yes, very well.
Check out my Falcon Shifter series.