The Cat and the Cucumber Mystery

I jumped up on the fence and gave one of my ginger paws a quick lick.

Reynolds is a gray Persian that lives next door and we meet up at the fence often to talk and occasionally go on walks together. Usually Reynolds, who was regrettably named after some hairy 80's actor, has exciting stories to share. The family he lives with includes a couple of human children and even a dog, which I couldn't believe at first but have come to accept. The dog really isn't that bad, I've come to find out. She's actually really nice and doesn't hate cats, like I thought all dogs did.

I, on the other hand, don't usually have many exciting tales to tell Reynolds, since I only live with a couple of adult humans, and often wished I did have more stories to tell my friend. Then, just yesterday, something happened that gave me quite a story to share.

When I met up with Reynolds, he could tell I was excited about something.

“Hi, Squeeks!” he said as I approached the fence. “You seem like you can't wait to tell me something. What's up?”

 “You'll never believe it!” I told him. “I was in the kitchen yesterday evening, eating my dinner, when suddenly I sensed something behind me.” My striped tail swished back and forth irritably as I remembered. “I turned my head slightly to look and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something long and green on the floor near me. I was so shocked, I jumped practically to the ceiling and almost hit the counter.”

“What was it?” Reynolds asked.

“I thought it was a snake!” I said.

Reynolds's green eyes widened. “Oh, my! And was it?”

“No, thankfully. When I calmed down, I snuck up to it, gave it a tentative tap with my paw and a quick sniff. Turns out it was just a cucumber!”

“A cucumber? How strange! How did it get there?”

“That's what I wondered. So I decided to do a little investigating to see if I figure it out. I wandered all over the kitchen, checking the counters to see if it might have rolled off of one by accident, but I didn't notice any signs of one being left out. The cabinets and refrigerator hadn't been opened, or I'd have heard them. I did see a weird little device sitting on one of the counters near me, but I didn't know what it was and my humans are always buying strange things, so I didn't give it much thought. When I was done with the kitchen, I went to check the other rooms. I wandered from room to room, searching under furniture and looking up at shelves, looking for signs of where a cucumber might have been. But I didn't find anything. And then....”

Reynolds gazed intently at me, totally engrossed in my story. “And then...?” he asked eagerly.

My tail swished harder in anger. “And then, I found them.”

“Who?”

“My humans! Can you believe it?! They were sitting on their bed, looking at one of their little computer things and laughing. I peeked into their room just as I heard my female human comment about how high I had jumped, and how I had squeeked, and how they had named me appropriately. My male human commented that he couldn't believe I'd act like that over a cucumber! I was so upset! I couldn't believe my humans would do something like that to me!”

“Oh, Squeeks! Your adult humans sound as bad as my child ones. What are you going to do?”

My tail stopped swishing and I raised the other paw to give it a lick. “I got my revenge, of course,” I said.

Reynolds gave a small purr of approval. “What did you do?”

I gave a small purr and told him, “I slipped out the kitty door last night and caught a couple of rats. Then I brought them back in and left them on the foot of their bed. I was careful to make sure not to wake them as I did it.”

“Rats?!” Reynolds asked. “You are quite the hunter.”

“Yes, thank you, but that was the problem. I didn't want them to think I was bringing them back a gift. That I was okay with what they did. So I got rid of the rats.”

Just then the door of my house opened and my two humans paused on their way to work, glaring at us sitting peacefully on the fence before they shook their heads nad wandered off.

“What DID you do?” Reynolds asked again.

My purr got louder and I told him, “You should have heard their yells when they woke up this morning! Especially the female's yell! It took a lot of work but I finally managed to slip that cucumber back onto their bed and under their blankets. And from the corner of the room I watched as she rolled over, still half asleep when she hit the snooze button on her alarm clock. Then as her foot hit the cucumber under the blankets she bolted upright in her bed and screemed. She thought it was a snake under there. They won't be pulling a trick like that on me again, I promise you!”

“Good for you, Squeeks!” Reynolds stood up and stretched. “So, are you ready to go for walk?”

“Of course!”

We jumped from the fence and started off across the yard.