Brushed Off

by Leo

At long last, spring was here and Ginger and I joyfully leapt out through the cat flap to go and play in the garden. We had grown weary of the cold grey days of winter, which seem to have lasted forever and were overjoyed when we woke up this morning to find the sun shining from a clear blue sky. The air felt pleasantly warm, mild enough for a butterfly to have ventured out, which I caught and ate. It didn't taste very nice but it was fun to be hunting again. I climbed up the apple tree and knocked off some of the blossom, which Ginger tried unsuccessfully to catch. Then we decided to chase each other round the lawn and play hide and seek. Next, we played with the daffodils, which dangled invitingly just waiting for us to swat them with our paws. Some of the petals fell off and we wondered fleetingly if our devoted slave would notice or be upset but concluded if daffodils weren't meant to be played with, they shouldn't look like that. Suddenly Ginger mewed "What's this doing here?" I went to look and was surprised to find a broom head hidden in the bushes. Unlike our devoted slave's broom, the bristles were sticking up in the air and it had no handle attached, despite this, it looked quite new, as all the bristles were intact. Now, although our devoted slave hates gardening, she never leaves things there as she says a garden should look natural and in any case why should she throw away a new broom as it looked better than the one she used? "It's a mystery!" I mewed." Maybe the handyman or cleaning lady left it there and we'll find out later." "It looks like a monster!" Ginger mewed a trifle nervously." See how the daffodil petals which fell on it look like eyes!" I agreed they did and we played at chasing the "monster" for a while until we became bored as it didn't move like a real monster would. I was feeling hungry and ready to go back inside when I had an idea. "The moon will be bright tonight." I mewed to Ginger." Let's play a joke on Josephine .She was horrid to me this morning and called me a spoiled mummy's boy!" Ginger agreed." She hissed at me last night", he mewed and how she swore, if our devoted slave spoke cat language she would be shocked! What are you planning Leo?" "Let's tell her tonight that's there's a monster in the garden. She is always very curious and will come out to look" I mewed". We can hide in the bushes. It will be so funny when she tries to chase it and finds out it's a brush!" We grinned our Cheshire cat grins as we went indoors. That afternoon when Josephine was half asleep on the chair, I taunted her. "I know why you wire nasty to me this morning. You're scared of the monster that comes out at night and you know I'm not!" "I am not scared and there isn't a monster!" I deftly dodged her flying paw but I could see she was curious. Ginger came in just then as we'd planned. "Have you seen the monster, Josephine? " he asked." It comes out in the garden after dark!" "It serves you right for not staying in by the fire." she replied" If you go out imagining monsters!" However, we could see she was curious. As soon as it was dark, Ginger and I crept out and hid in the bushes. It was hard to find the brush and we wondered if our devoted slave had moved it but then we saw it again although strangely enough it seemed to be in a different place than where we'd left it. In addition, there looked to be more than one! Then things always look different by moonlight. I remembered our devoted slave's Mother saying a man called Shakespeare had said something about a bush becoming a bear at night or was it a brush? Yet, I could have sworn that the brush was moving! "Did you see that?" I asked Ginger. "What?" he replied" I think there's a mouse over there. I'm going after it." " Wait!" I hissed "Josephine's coming!" Josephine walked slowly down the path with regal dignity, her tail held high She looked scornfully round the garden and we thought she was about to go back inside. I rubbed against a branch to get her attention. Then she saw the brush and went up to it and sniffed it. To our horror it moved and changed, it's shape into a round ball as Josephine gave a loud scream and ran back into the house. "Did you see that?" I mewed to Ginger. I could see him trembling and to be quite honest I felt scared too." It's come alive and it's smaller and looks like a baby brush!" " But brushes can't come alive or have babies!" Ginger wailed." We must be having a bad dream or it's magic!" I trod on his tail deliberately to convince him he wasn't. We both screwed up our courage and cautiously approached the brush, which was moving again. I plucked up the courage to sniff it and jumped back in agony as a sharp spine pricked my nose. I yowled as the brush turned into a tight ball. Then to my relief the back door opened and our devoted slave, followed by her next door neighbour appeared. They were carrying torches. "I'm so sorry to disturb you," the neighbour was saying." You'll think this ridiculous but before I went to work this morning I decided to brush my yard and the handle flew off the broom straight into your garden!" "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll soon find It.," said my devoted slave. She shone the torch towards the magic brush. They both stopped. "Oh look, a hedgehog!" my devoted slave said." I've never seen one in the garden before!" "I used to have one", said the neighbour "and very useful it was eating all the garden pests, maybe it has moved in with you?" The hedgehog uncured and scuttled off into the bushes. "That is wonderful to see," said my devoted slave." I'm glad you lost your broom, as I don't come out here at night usually. "Well here it is!" said the neighbour picking up the broom head which was still adorned with daffodil petals. "I'll glue it to the stave so it won't happen again." They retreated to the house leaving Ginger and I still hidden in the bushes and feeling very foolish. "Well our devoted slave hadn't seen one either before." I mewed after a few moments thought." And she is very old compared with us!" We both felt better at the thought and we never did tell Josephine the truth about the hedgehog!