The Pussycat and the Butterfly - Part 1

THE PUSSYCAT AND THE BUTTERFLY

 

 

Dedicated to 

 

Lennon and Evie May

 

 

 

 

 

Alasdair cowered in the corner as he looked around the room. Full of such handsomeness and beauty, how could he possibly make an impression at the school of drama when he didn’t HAVE ANY EARS!!!!!! Oh, he could hear alright. Alasdair had acute hearing and even two classrooms away, he could listen in to the whispers of the naughty students in class laughing at the teacher. But Alasdair didn’t use this to his advantage. Instead, he sought after his dream of being an actor. He longed to be on stage. To perform in front of the camera. To be someone other than his usual, boring, average self. To be someone that others looked to in admiration. To be that strong, male, valiant mog. Able to combat any would be intruders. To be that knight in shining armour to his damsel in distress… 

 

“Alasdaaair. Is there an Alasdaaair in the room?” shrieked the invisible voice through the doorway.

 

Alasdair shook his head out of the daydreaming of his being brilliant and walked across the room. His eyes darted back and forth as he tried to drown out the sniggers of his opponents as they murmured under their breath into each others earlobes. 

 

Breathing deeply through his nostrils and into his ribcage, he walked into the audition room, tall and proud, rehearsing in his head his one line, 

 

“Your Overconfidence is Your Weakness,” 

 

he said over and over as he made his way to the audition room.

 

There were five people sitting at a desk in front of him. They looked slightly alarmed as he walked in. His ribcage deflated into itself as he let go of his breath.

 

One shuffled some papers as they composed themselves. “Ala, Alasdair?”

 

“Yes, I am he,” he replied.

 

“Ahem, yes. Okay. Eh... so. Can you hear me okay?”

 

“Perfectly well, thank you” Alasdair returned as his paw reached for his ear area.

 

“Ah, Yes. Okay (cough), so you are here to audition for the part of…” More shuffling of papers “Luke Skywalker?” said the voice in a confused fashion.

 

“That is so,” Alasdair said.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Very sure,” said Alasdair

 

The judge raised his eyebrows at his fellows, looking very bored he replied, 

“OK then. You have one sentence to make an impression. Go ahead.”

 

Alasdair looked at the five judges across the table. His mind began to whirl. He thought of the actors just outside. Of their physical stature. Of their strength and determination. Of their ability. Of their confidence. Their beauty. He then thought about himself. His height. His appearance. His lack of ear. His weak chest. His inability. His one line he had to give to make the impression.

 

“We’re waiting!” the judge demanded, “You have one sentence to make an impression. That sentence must come now!”

 

Alasdair took a sharp intake of breath. He tried to think nice thoughts, to relax his mind, to think how Luke Skywalker would react in such an instance. He opened his mouth but forgot his line. All he could think of was his ears. His ears. HIS EARS!

 

“Time’s Up!!” He heard abound in his tiny, little folded ears.

 

“But - -” 

 

“Nope! You had your chance. We have 73 other auditions to go through. Now please leave.”

 

Alasdair held his head very low as he made his way out of the audition room. He took a deep breath and tried to muffle a whimper on the breath out behind his paw.

 

Making his way back home he blamed himself and his stupid ears. 

'Why can’t I just be like everyone else?’ He reasoned. ‘At least, if I looked the same, then I’d be as confident and as handsome as the others. Maybe then they’d take me seriously. I hate my ears. I hate my stupid ears.’ He banged at the folds he had in place of ears and banged and banged until he made them swell up like two tree stumps, banded and unable to grow.

 

Alasdair looked at his reflection in the pond in the garden as he said his line, unaware of the significance of his choice of words.

 

“Your Overconfidence is Your Weakness” he said over and over until it was so loud, he disturbed the birds in the bush next to him into a flurry.

 

“My overconfidence IS my weakness,” he said to no-one in particular as he pondered his predicament. 

 

“You’re not really overconfident though are you?” he heard from someone close by.

 

“Who’s that?” Alasdair asked into the air.

 

“I’m Arabella. It’s nice to meet you,” said Arabella

 

“Where are you… “ he queried looking around him to no-one at all. He gasped, as he thought of the possibility of him going quite mad. “Are you in my mind? Oh no,” he said as he clutched his tummy at the thought, “I can’t be going mad. I’m too young!”

Alasdair started breathing sharply at this horrible scenario. He started to walk in circles around himself as he declared, “I can’t, I just CAN’T GO MAD!!! I’ll never be an actor if I’m mad! Mind you, some of the best artists are those who aren’t quite sane are they not?” he argued back.

 

“I don’t know who you’re talking to, but I doubt they’re listening,” came the reply out of nowhere once again.

 

“NOOOOO!” cried Alasdair, holding his stump like bumps on top of his head.

 

“ I’m in the bush next to the pond.”

 

Alasdair looked up and into the bush. His eyes inspected every part until the most exquisite colours caught his eye. So vibrant, he was unsure how he hadn’t seen it before now. “WOW!!!” He gasped. “You are beautiful!” he said tilting his head left and right to inspect the extraordinary creature.

 

“Am I?” said Arabella quite surprised, “I’ve never noticed.”

 

“But how?” Alasdair returned, “You must have seen yourself! You are quite possibly the most perfect thing I have ever seen.”

 

“I’m certainly not perfect, I’m lopsided and my colours tend to change when my mood is very strong. But even if I were perfect, it wouldn’t occur to me to care.”

 

“Hah!” Alasdair said, “I wish I didn’t care if I were beautiful or not.”

 

“Then why do you?” The elegant creature asked

 

“Eeeeem, I don’t know,” Alasdair said

 

“Well then,” Arabella laughed, “As I said, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve not had many to talk to recently. Perhaps we can talk.”

 

“Okay, then,” said Alasdair. “What shall we talk about?”

 

“We don’t know each other, so how about you tell me what your favourite colour is”

 

“That’s easy,” the Pussycat purred, “Vibrant green, like the colours of your wings. But I do love all colours. What’s yours?”

 

“Nice. I love that colour. So powerful and relaxing. I always go green when I’m in the trees and feeling very chilled, that’s probably why you didn’t see me. My favourite is all colours. The more the merrier. Although I am partial to shades of red and pink. There we have something in common already”

 

Alasdair smiled. It was true they did. They both loved colours. He leapt onto his next question. “What’s your favourite snack?”

 

“Cheeeeeeeeeese,”the word oozed out of the butterfly’s mouth as if she tasted the delicious, creamy saltiness at that very moment. The pussycat smiled up at her. “Yummy! What about you?”

 

“Oh, I love bananas” he told her “big, ripe bananas. Bright yellow. My mouth is watering at the thought”, he said as he wiped away some drool at the side of his mouth. “What do you like to do to relax?” he asked Arabella.

 

“Oh, that’s easy,” she replied, “I live amongst the bushes and the trees. When I’m not fluttering my wings and eating the nectar of the most beautiful flowers, I like to stop and listen to the rushing of the wind blowing through the leaves. To feel the air on my skin and to smell the petals of the roses. To draw the beauty around me…”

 

“Wow,” Alasdair looked mesmerised as he thought of this in his mind. ”That’s poetic.” he said.

 

“I don’t know about that. I just like to feel my senses and create things. What about you? How do you relax?”

 

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Alasdair looking rather ashamed as he touched his ear area.

 

“Go on. What are you scared of?” Arabella asked quite perplexed.

 

“I’m not scared. It’s just, I’d rather not say,” he said, head bowed low.

 

“Come on. There’s no judging in this garden. We’re all entitled to relax in our own way and if it’s not wrong, noone can tell us different.”

 

“Okay,” Alasdair said in agreement and wondered why he hadn’t thought of that. 

 

“So, I like to pretend that I’m on TV”

 

“Ooooooh,” said Arabella encouragingly. “I like it!”

 

“And I have the largest, brightest, most proudest ears anyone has ever seen. I curl my fur around them to show them off even more and everyone looks at me with respect.” Alasdair said dreamily as he saw this vision in his minds eye.

 

“Really?” Arabella returned. “But what’s wrong with the ears you already have” she asked quizzically.

 

“What ears?” Alasdair said, quite petulantly. “I don’t have any ears. This is the reason I will never be an actor. I’m not handsome enough or adequate enough and I’ll always just be the pussycat with no ears.”

 

“So what?” Arabella replied “You can hear, can’t you? Who cares if you have something to cover over your listening faculties or not?”

 

These questions. Noone had ever posed such questions before. Of course Arabella didn’t care about how she looked. She was the most perfect, delightful looking creature he had ever laid his big round eyes on. He cared. He cared very much about having something to cover over his little folds he had in place of ears.

 

Arabella wasn’t finished.

 

“Why does everyone have to look the same anyway? Why can’t we all be unique in our own way? Doesn’t that make you more handsome? Doesn’t that make you more confident? Knowing that you are you and no-one else, even if they try to act like you, will ever be you!” 

 

Well, thought Alasdair. This was quite a revelation. Never had anyone spoken in such a way before. He began to wonder at the truth of her words. Why did he care so much what others thought? Wasn’t he an actor? He could act himself confident. Then he could take on the role he always wanted. That of the leading part of Luke Skywalker. He could say his line at last. He could prove to the whole world that it doesn’t matter what you look like, as long as you love yourself and be nice to yourself, then you can give more of yourself to others. Be it acting or something else. He marveled at the wisdom of such words and asked her a question.

 

“Arabella,” he asked.

 

“Yes, Alasdair,” she replied.

 

“Would you come with me to the next audition please?”

 

“But, of course I would,” she said with her most glorious mouth.

 

Alasdair beamed his biggest smile. Arabella was going to give him the confidence he never had. He would go to the audition and get the part. He just knew it.