The fat fluffy cat sat perched on the wall in front of Number 26 Popple Court. It watched and waited, swishing its tail back and forth as it whiled away the time.

The cat lived right next door at Number 28, but there was nothing doing there. His human was over at Number 26, as were the humans from Numbers 19, 21 and 22.

In fact, the whole top of Popple Court was filled with cars, all their occupants visiting Number 26.

Another car pulled up and two more humans got out. Females. A big one and a smaller one. They were abuzz with excitement.

‘I wonder if it’s here yet?’ said the big one.

‘I can’t wait to see what it looks like!’ said the smaller one.

To see what what looks like? thought the cat, who was now most unhappy that he was stuck on a wall outside Number 26, when quite clearly all the action was happening inside.

The humans rushed past without so much as a glance in the cat’s direction. Typical, thought the cat. Not that he expected anything more – they were humans, after all. Still, some sort of acknowledgement would have been nice.

‘Oh, isn’t he just gorgeous.’

‘Isn’t he the most handsome thing you’ve ever seen.’

But no. Just ignore the cat.

He was constantly being shooed away, or having things tossed at him, even when he wasn’t doing anything wrong. 

Hey, don’t worry about me, I’m just the cat.

The cat didn’t have much time for humans, except for his own human of course. She fed him and cuddled him and talked to him like he was the most important creature on Earth. Most of the others talked to him, or about him, as if he was an alien on the wrong planet.

The cat was curious now.
What was all the interest in Number 26? Who was coming? What was coming? It must be very important to be causing so much interest. He had never seen anything like it before in Popple Court.

Surely it would arrive soon, and then the cat could see for himself what all the fuss was about. Soon he was bored and numb from sitting on the cold brick wall for so long. He couldn’t feel the fur on his bottom anymore and had to look to make sure it was still there.

Whoever or whatever he was waiting for still hadn’t arrived and the cat was beginning to wonder if it ever would.

Perhaps all the humans were at Number 26 for the thing his human called a ‘party’ or for that other thing she called ‘bingo’.

One thing was for sure – all this waiting around was tiresome. He was fed up with swishing his tail and had started swatting insects with his paws, but now even that failed to amuse him. He thought about wandering back over to Number 28 for a bit of a catnap on the front porch.

He had almost talked himself into it when he heard the sound of another car approaching. Then a shiny blue monstrosity pulled into the driveway of Number 26, and the cat trembled with excitement. Finally they were here. ‘It’ was here.

The car slowed for a moment, and the cat waited patiently for the humans to get out. He was going to be the first to see it, whatever it was. Phooey to all the humans who were inside Number 26, waiting for the big arrival. The cat was going to have the last laugh after all.

But the humans didn’t get out. They just waited for the big metal rolling door thingy to open, then they drove in. And no sooner were they in, than the door closed behind them again. Just like that.

The cat was mortified.

He couldn’t believe it. All that waiting on the cold brick wall for nothing. Not one little peek at the very special and important thing that all the humans had come to see. It was now inside Number 26, where he should be.

Aha! thought the cat. That’s it!

Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner? The cat was very pleased with himself.

He leaped off the wall with graceful ease and raced across the front yard of Number 26, heading towards the kitchen.

The kitchen window was perfect. The cat had a great view, but if anyone saw him, he’d be tossed out of there quick smart. And that wasn’t a very pleasant thought.

There was a whole room full of humans inside – far too many for his liking. And they were all there for the same reason.

Any moment it was going to come through the door and make its grand entrance. And the cat was going to be right there to see it.

Even if it cost him one of his nine lives!

There was a gasp from inside, then everything went quiet. The cat trembled in anticipation and pressed his face close up against the window. In fact if he pressed it any harder the glass was in danger of shattering. But at that particular moment, he didn’t much care. It was here.

He watched as the humans from the blue car walked into the room. There were two of them. Within seconds, the crowd milled around them like bees to honey, and the cat couldn’t see a thing. He cursed under his breath.

Then suddenly the humans began to disperse, and he saw it. He nearly choked.

He took a moment to compose himself. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked again, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. Was that a dog he could see? A dog?

No, it couldn’t be, it wasn’t possible. No dog in the whole wide world could cause so much interest that everyone in Popple Court had to come and see it. Not even if it had royal bloodlines.

Well that would probably attract some attention, but nowhere near as much as this dog was getting. Besides, this dog definitely didn’t have a royal look about it.

No, the more the cat thought about it, the more he was sure: this was just an ordinary, everyday-type dog. There was nothing special about it. It had two ears and two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and four legs just like any other dog. And what was that ridiculous-looking contraption it was wearing?

It was embarrassing really. How dare a dog get all that attention? Especially one as plain and unspecial looking as the one inside Number 26 Popple Court.

The cat sat and watched, and hissed in disgust when he saw the dog look up at him.

The cat was not impressed. Not one little bit.