WHISKER WISDOM CATERVIEW WITH ALOYSIUS, A ONE-IN-THREE-THOUSAND FELINE!
This Whisker Wisdom Caterview with Aloysius, or “Wishes,” is special, not because he has an extra chromosome. He’s much more than that!
Tortoiseshell males occur only one in 3000.
And like most tortoiseshell males, he’s sterile.
Wishes, until now, patiently lounging on a chair beside me in my office, let out a chittering cackle, and sat upright with a stiff spine.
Wishes: Wait just a minute! Isn’t that a little too much information? My ability to reproduce is not the subject of this interview. May I remind you that my being here is a favor to you? So, shall we begin?
Me: That was an unfortunate slip. I apologize. But you jumped in before I could finish. What makes you stand out is your ability to traverse time and your ability to talk. We all appreciate that you’ve come forward again. How was your journey?
W shrugged: No more, no less complicated than the dozen times I’ve done it before.
Me: And Jacob Riley. How’s he doing?
W: He’s well, considering his age. He often talks about when I brought his eleventh great-granddaughter, Calandria, back to meet him. He’s forever grateful for helping that poor boy escape the gallows.
Me: A nod to you, reader. The cat is referring to the young boy from the 1700s who appeared in Calandria (Cassie’s) story. Wishes, I don’t want to spoil the story’s ending, but everyone, including me, wonders why you abruptly left the 21st century. You had a pretty good life in Baga Shores. Can you share?
W: I have a good life wherever or whenever I live. I will make sure to.
Me: You’re dodging my question. Leaving Callie like that disrupted the centuries-old heritage. You’re always assigned to a gifted Riley. And stay with that person until the gift passes to their firstborn. You were Callie’s father’s familiar until the gift passed to her. That’s how it worked through all the generations before. Always forward. Never back.
W chewed at something caught between his splayed back toes. With the foot still sticking in the air, he glanced up at me: Oh, I’m sorry. Was there a question in there?
Me: I think you know there was.
W: Indeed, I’ve faithfully upheld my duty. For centuries, I’ll add. But when I brought Callie and her man back to save that boy and saw old Jacob again, I knew he needed me more than Callie did. Aside from her, he was the smartest of the Rileys. And I’ve known them all, back to old Britain. Only someone like Jacob could convince that stubborn woman to travel back in time to save a life. The idea of writing her a letter was sheer brilliance.
I doubt the universe minds if I bent time a little so we could relive his last years together. I can be with him and serve all the firstborn Rileys at the same time.
Me: I put nothing past you. But when Jacob Riley passes, which I guess will be the second time, what then? You’ve completed your obligations through all the generations up to Callie. This is all so confusing.
W canted his head as he considered an answer: Valid on all counts. I’ve been with so many Riley generations that I’ve lost track. But dear Jacob always had a special place in my heart. I will keep going as if nothing had changed. Only I know that I’ve been with each firstborn Riley through history. They won’t suspect a thing. I might catch up with Callie again at some point. Time means nothing to me.
Me: So you’re confirming there are parallel time periods? Are we side-by-side with past generations?
W cast an unbelieving eye roll: You’re the author who wrote our story, and you still say you don’t know the answers?
Me: I make stuff up, Wishes. I made up the whole idea of time traveling. And I invented you, remember?
W squinted his eyelids to a slit and stared hard at me. After a moment, he spoke: You invented me? Seriously? I’ve been around a lot longer than you. When will you realize you are a sideline observer of our stories and simply writing what happened?
Me: But, Wishes…
The little ‘tortie’ interrupted with another throaty chitter that I interpreted as him being disgusted.
A moment later, he was gone.
Into thin air.
Again.
**
I can’t say this interview went precisely as planned.
Wishes left me with more questions than answers, especially the bit about me being a scribe of events and not the inventor of them. I need time to process that.
But, in his classic style, he comes and goes when he wants, back and forth through three hundred and twenty years.
He didn’t give me time to update him on Callie and Reid. Reid, who is working on healing from a traumatic military deployment, accepted a promising job opportunity. A gifted potter and magical, Callie’s studio is thriving. And she is doing a much better job managing the selfish dead who continually hound her for help.
In the meantime, Wishes got me thinking.
Is magical time-traveling an author’s invention or an actual phenomenon?
Could a cat live for centuries?
Are writers simply observers recording events? If that’s true, I can’t wait to see who shows up next, wanting their story told!
What do you think?
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