Thursday 27 October 2011

Haunting - Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 25 - 28th of October 2011



Welcome to the Romantic Friday Writing Challenge, started and hosted by L'Aussie Denise and Francine Howarth, where participants share their own 300-400-word text on a given theme. This week's theme for Friday, 21st October, Challenge No. 25, is 'Haunting'. My text is written directly for this REW-challenge.




Here is my text :
-------

Haunting

It was a dark and stormy night and Drucilla thought she was alone in the farm-kitchen. Thunder and lightning made Drucilla nervous. With ears geared to hearing the soft heartbeat of tiny rodents, Drucilla didn't like loud noises. The two-leggeds had taken off for some unknown destination, to which Drucilla was not invited.

It started to rain heavily, as Drucilla was having her evening meal in the in a corner of the kitchen. It was dark, but she had good night vision. As she looked across the kitchen floor, she thought she spied a pair of eyes; shining, glowing cat's eyes suspended in the air. She looked away and slowly closed her eyes. If I ignore it, it might go away, she thought as she went to sit in her basket. She curled her tail around her body and only opened one eye, ever so slightly, as to not reveal her interest in the vapourous cat-eyes. In minutes the vision of the eyes had grown into a whole cat-face hovering some inches above the floor. It was a kind face; a happy face; it was the face of a cat who used to live there.

'Meow!' said the face, meaning: 'Hello my pretty! Who are you? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Che-'

'"Cheshire"', Drucilla broke in knowingly. 'Am I right? I recognise you from when I was a kitten.'

Now the strange cat's entire figure came to light.
A magnificent tom, she thought, whatever his name is.

'No, Chester, actually. My name is Chester, and yes, I used to live here.'

'I'm Drucilla,' said Drucilla
washing a front paw and nervously wiping her face. The visiting cat's bodily form had now materialised completely and Chester was or had been a beautiful red tabby tom, with soft yellow eyes, the same colour as his coat. He smiled a sweet cat-smile.

'Chester', Drucilla inquired hestitantly' Are you normal?'

'Oh my dear Drucilla, no. Alas, not anymore. I've changed form.'

'Oh', said Drucilla puzzled and embarrassed. She liked him, but his entrance was odd. Most cats go through the cat-door or are let in by two-leggeds.

'Must we speak of it, my darling?'mewed Chester softly.

'No, my sweet, come sit with me instead.'

Chester and Drucilla curled up in each other's furry embrace, purring as they fell asleep.

------
[Text copyright 2011 Christina Wigren]



Word count according to WordCalc: 399; FCA; Full Critique Acceptable. Write whatever you like. Constructive criticism is always welcome! Don't be shy. Say what's on your mind!



------
Best wishes,
Anna



P.S.
Epilogue:
Later when the family came home and found Drucilla, the cat, alone and asleep with her paws up in the air in her basket, Lucinda, asked her older sister, 'Have you ever seen a ghost?'
'No, replied Jane, but I think Drucilla has.'

P.P.S.
This story is purely fictional. There are nods to Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass as well as to Beatrix Potter's A Tale of Two Bad Mice. And here
is where you can read about the opening phrase 'It was a dark and stormy night'.



First Commenter:
Denise
of
L'Aussie's Writing Blog



To read other texts for Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 25, with the theme 'Haunting', please visit this site or click on the image below:



12 comments:

DeniseCovey_L'Aussie said...

Hi Anna! Happy Halloween!

As always your story is enchantment itself. Must admit I was waiting for Drucilla the ghost cat to carry out some dastardly act, but they just purred off to sleep. The little epilogue helped the story.

"pusseled" probably needs to be "puzzled."

Thank you for sharing your delightful Drusilla and Chester story.

Denise

reanaclaire said...

Hello .. Happy Halloween..nice review here!

Francine Howarth: UK said...

Hi,

Cute little piece of flash-fiction.

Love Chester's style! Kind of arrogant but friendly. I can see how Drusilla and Chester could have some fun at the expense of two-leggeds, and essentially become an amusing novella. ;)

best
F

Adura Ojo said...

Just like faeryland, I find your world of animals quite enchanting, Anna. Drucilla's paws up in the air - made me smile and chuckle to myself.

Kiru Taye said...

Dear Anna,

You have this knack of transporting us into the lives of creatures, of giving them qualities that are human-like and thereby making it easy for the reader to empathise with them.

I like the change this week from faeries to felines. Well written.

Cheers,
Kiru

Andy said...

Hello Anna.
Your enchanting stories are such fun. Love the name Drucilla...has that scary sound to it. I thought Drucilla was done for when Chester first appeared, but he turned out to be a nice kitty. The ending made me laugh.
Thanks for the epilogue.

Nicely written!

This Unknown Spirit

N. R. Williams said...

How fun is this! Two fury cats, one real the other a ghost and in the embrace of love. Loved this story.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Andy, Nancy and the others are right : your stories are enchanting and fun. And with Alice & Victor, you know I am a fan of living and undead love! LOL. Roland

Donna Hole said...

That was a sweet romance Anna. Enchanting indeed.

......dhole

Madeleine Maddocks said...

I've come through to your Blog via Google chrome as IE kept glitching about.
Cute tale of 2 cats. A nice twist!

Deniz Bevan said...

Oh how sweet!
I'm happy for Drucilla :-)

Ruth Madison said...

This is so cute! I like that you did it with such different protagonists. Also the part about "meow" meaning that whole long sentence is hilarious. The only critique comment I have is that you use Drucilla's name in every sentence in the first paragraph and I think a pronoun would help break up the rhythm.

Translate a text here: