The Pussycat and the Butterfly - Part 4

PART FOUR

Alasdair softly shook his head as he thought about the whole of yesterday and last night. He was so worried about Arabella that he had lost a whole nights sleep and had given himself the cold as he rummaged through the earth and shubbery trying to find her. His nose was running and he was feeling hot and cold all over. 

“Oh my darling”, his mummy said as she felt his forehead. “You’d better get back to bed and get some sleep. You have a temperature”.

Oh dear. The audition for the part he had always dreamed of was tomorrow. What if he wasn’t allowed to go out. He was annoyed at himself for letting his worries run away with themselves when he didn't know the facts and this made him go out in the cold and rain to search for her. The truth was, he had only met his winged friend the day before, he didn’t know how she got through the winters and the storms, but she did and this made him feel better. She was OK and that was all that mattered. 

Alasdair took himself to bed with a hot lemon and honey. He was so tired from his sleepless night the night before that he fell asleep straight away and slept for five full hours. He had lovely dreams. He was at the audition and walked in so tall and so proud. The other auditionees nodded at him as he passed them on the way to the audition room. One even saluted him and said in a muted undertone “He is so cool!”

The judges gave him the once over and liked what they saw. 

His ears were bright and luminous as his drawing before. He had more confidence than ever. He drew a breath and he gave his line.

“You’re Overconfidence is Your Weakness”

He boomed to the three in front of him, gesticulating as if they were the overconfident ones and looking them in the eye the whole time he was in the room.

This little kitty had nothing to fear. He was so handsome and just look at those exquisite ears he has. Never the like had anything been seen before. The three judges whispered under muttered breath. At the same time, they all stood up from their chairs and gave such a huge applause that his splendiferous ears began to twitch from all the noise. Outside all the fellow auditionees began to applaud too. There was no point in them even trying for the part of Luke Skywalker. No-one could compare to the Pussycat with the Butterfly ears. 

Alasdair shook the hands of his new employers as they showed him the contract for £18,000,000.00. Alasdair gave a little dance. He autographed it, as he had been practicing for rather some time. He was going to have to adopt a stage name. And get an agent and a manager and probably some new threads. Perhaps he would even dye his fur…

“Alasdair”, he heard softly as he came back into the normal world. “Alasdair, wake up. You have a visitor”. Said his mother.

Alasdair woke with a sneeze. He gave an almighty blow of his shnoz and then opened his eyes properly. He sat up, feeling groggy and very very sleepy. He wanted to go back into his dream and relive that wonderful feeling of being someone that everyone adored. He closed his eyes for just a moment as a little rattle came at the window.

He looked over to see his friend.

He smiled and began to feel better instantly. “Oh, Arabella, I had the most terrific dream”. 

He went on to regale her with the story. She smiled and laughed a little. 

“What?” He asked

“You really do worry about what everyone thinks of you don’t you?”

“NO!” He replied. 

“You do”

“Do not”

“Ok then, you don’t”

“Well, maybe I do just a little”.

“But why?” She asked.

“I really don’t know!” Came the honest reply. “I guess I just want people to like me”.

“But they do like you. You’re alright. And if they don’t, why should that be your problem? You are a good pussycat. Your mum was telling me that you got the cold from spending so long in the rain and the puddles trying to find me. That was very kind of you Alasdair. You’re a loyal friend, and those are very hard to come by”.

“I am?” Alasdair replied. He hadn’t even thought of it. He just knew that he loved spending time with his butterfly friend. She made him think in such a way that he hadn’t thought of before. It was very liberating from his usual anxious thoughts. She made him feel very good about who he was and he didn’t want anything bad to ever happen to her. “Well, thank you Arabella” he said “You are a very good friend too.”

“Now, you are going to need all the rest you can get if you want to go to the interview tomorrow. I know you don’t need to rehearse too much more. You have it down perfectly. Now, go to sleep and get well. I’ll be back first thing in the morning”.

With that, Arabella took her flight and left Alasdair to return to his delicious dreams.