The sun was shining, it was a beautiful spring day. Yesterday it rained, and today the sun was washing the puddles off the paths. On one of these paths, a family of cats was going for a walk.
“Dear children, keep close behind,” said the mother cat. “I’ll go first and Daddy will go last, so you won’t get lost.”
Mama cat came out of the gate first, with three little kittens toddling behind her, and behind them went…
“Mommy,” squeaked one of the kittens. “But Daddy’s not here.”
“He probably stayed home, Helen,” Mummy addressed the oldest black kitten, “run home and call him.”
Helen reached the house, peeked in the door and called: “Daddy, where are you?”
There was snoring from the cat’s bed. Helen followed the sound. Of course. Daddy cat had stayed in bed and fallen back asleep in it. But Helen knew what to do. She jumped into his bed and started scratching him with her paw.
“What’s the matter? I must have fallen asleep for a while,” grumbled Daddy cat, still sleepy.
“Hihihi, wake up, you sleeper. We’re going for a walk,” laughed Helen, pulling daddy out of the bed.
Finally, they were all outside. The mother cat went down the path first, followed by the three kittens, and behind them walked…
“Mommy,” one of the kittens squeaked. “Daddy’s not here again! Daddy’s lost!”
“Where could he be?” Mommy cat looked around.
“I see him,” cried the white kitten. “He’s talking to Aunt Goose over there by the fence.”
“Please run and get him, Mike,” said Mama Cat, and waited with the other kittens for Mike to run to Daddy.
Mike soon got to the fence, but a puddle got in his way. I’ll jump over it, he thought. He ran, bounced, flew through the air for a while and then SPLASH! Mike landed right in the middle of the puddle. He splashed so hard that he spilled water on Aunt Goose, who was standing by the fence. Mike’s white fur was suddenly brown.
“Sob sob, I’m not pure white anymore,” cried Mike.
Papa cat was with him in one leap and pulled him out of the puddle.
“You little butterfinger boy. Aren’t you cold?”
Mike shook uff the mud and water from his fur, it flew around.
“No, luckily I didn’t get soaked. Shall we go on with our walk?” begged Mike, afraid that his swim in the puddle would cause them to go home.
“Let’s go on to the village.”
And so the cats went on. First went the mother cat, followed by the black Helen, followed by the once white Mike, followed by the smallest black kitten, followed by…
“Mammy,” squeaked the last of the kittens. “Daddy’s not here again! Daddy’s lost.”
“Where is he again?” Momma cat wondered, and she almost twisted her head to catch a glimpse of him.
But daddy cat was nowhere to be seen.
“Mommy, Mommy, I see him,” cried the smallest black kitten, pointing up into the top of a tall tree.
“What the hairbells is he doing there?” Mommy wondered.
“I’ll go get him,” the kitten offered helpfully.
“But you can’t, Eveline, you’re too small to climb such a tall tree.”
“Daddy, what are you doing up there?” cried Eveline from under the tree.
“I saw a butterfly and wanted to catch it, but now I don’t see it anywhere.”
“Oh, the butterfly’s already here, sitting on the flower,” said Eveline.
The next moment, Daddy Cat jumped down from the tree and chased after the butterfly. But it was too late. The butterfly fluttered its wings and was gone.
“I think we’ve walked enough. Let’s go home,” said the mother cat. Well, off they went.
First went Mama cat, second went black Helen, third went white Mike, fourth went black Eveline, and behind her…
“Mama,” called all three kittens, when they were almost at the door of the home. “Daddy is not here again. Daddy’s lost!”
“Oh no, children,” said the mother cat, opening the door.
Already, snoring could be heard in the hallway. And when the kittens ran around a bit, they found Daddy in his bed, already asleep.
“Daddy, what are you doing here?” the kittens asked.
“I was so tired from the walk that I thought we could do a little competition at who would be the first one in the house, I think I won” Daddy admitted, letting the kittens and momma cat hop in with him, and then they were all curled up in a ball and sweetly asleep. What a walk!
