Cat Telling Tales (29 page)

Authors: Shirley Rousseau Murphy

And Pan? What did Pan dream? Of past lives, as his daddy did? Of medieval times long vanished? Or did he dream of one tortoiseshell lady? Or, perhaps, dream equally of both, and with equal fascination?

But as the cats dreamed, each reaching out into realms they could not fully define, Wilma Getz dreamed, too. As Dulcie snuggled beside her beneath the quilt, Wilma slept wrapped in her own sense of miracle. Before leaving for the auction this evening, she had switched on her computer and found Dulcie's last, finished poem, and didn't that make her smile. The tabby's sudden creative flare was, to Wilma, the greatest joy of all. The transformation of the thieving kitten she had adopted so long ago, to this most surprising and talented of cats, still left her marveling. Now, more than ever, left her nearly purring, herself, with excitement. And they slept, side by side, Dulcie and her human, dreaming, to the echo of Dulcie's poems.

All along the cliff top blowing

She stalks her prey in grasses growing

Forest tall and thick above her

Quick and silent feline hunter

Queen of the high sea meadow

Mouse creeps very close to edge

She snatches it from narrow ledge

Sparrow tardy in his flight

Will never see another night

He's gone to feed the queen

Through dark to early morn she'll roam

Waves crash below

Gulls scream above her

Scolding as the wild queen passes

Through the swaying summer grasses

Queen of the high sea meadow

About the Author

SHIRLEY ROUSSEAU MURPHY has received nine national Cat Writers' Association Awards for best novel of the year, two Cat Writers' President's Awards, the “World's Best Cat Litter-ary Award” for the Joe Grey books, and five Council of Authors and Journalists Awards for previous books. She and her husband live in Carmel, California, where they serve as full-time household help for two demanding feline ladies.

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Also by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Cat Coming Home

Cat Striking Back

Cat Playing Cupid

Cat Deck the Halls

Cat Pay the Devil

Cat Breaking Free

Cat Cross Their Graves

Cat Fear No Evil

Cat Seeing Double

Cat Laughing Last

Cat Spitting Mad

Cat to the Dogs

Cat in the Dark

Cat Raise the Dead

Cat Under Fire

Cat on the Edge

The Catsworld Portal

Credits

Cover design by James Iacobelli

Cover illustration by Beppe Giacobbe/Morgan Gaynin Inc.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

CAT TELLING TALES
. Copyright Â© 2011 by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

EPub Edition Â© DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062101266

ISBN: 978-0-06-180692-6

11 12 13 14 15 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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