MftS: Black Fur and Whiskers

Posted on by Louise Bunting

Here’s this week’s entry into Monday’s Finish the Story flash fiction challenge, run by Barbara W. Beacham. This challenge gives you a picture prompt and the first line and asks that you finish the story in 100-150 words. The given line is in italics.

© 2015, Barbara W. Beacham
© 2015, Barbara W. Beacham

Black Fur and Whiskers

He thought he found the perfect hiding spot.

Jeffrey huddled beneath the curtain, listening tensely as tottering footsteps sounded nearby. Just keep going, he silently urged. Don’t find me. Please don’t find me…

“Where are you?” the high-pitched voice sing-songed. The accompanying giggle caused his hair to stand on end.

Why had he thought it a good idea to read that cursed book?

“Found you!” He gave an undignified yowl as the concealing fabric was yanked away and pudgy hands delved into his fur. Short arms hauled him off the ground. “Love you, Dada Kitty.”

“Meow,” he replied resignedly, rubbing his head against his daughter’s chin.

The spell was supposed to animate Emelie’s favourite toy – a bedraggled stuffed cat. It was not meant to turn him into a live version of the thing. As she dragged him back to the playroom he prayed it reversed soon.

He could only stand the toddler’s idea of fun for so long.

Word Count: 150

I’ve noticed that my stories have been getting steadily heavier and darker as the week’s have gone on so I thought I’d try for something a little lighter today. This was tentatively entitled ‘The Wizard’s Guide to Parenting’ as I wrote it. I would have liked to have left that as its title but felt it gave away too much of the story!

Jeffrey, by the way, is actually the name of my sister’s cat – I felt it suited my wizard daddy!  Here’s a picture of him that I took on my phone when I was visiting there last week. Unfortunately he refused to look at the camera…Jeffrey

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To read other entries or to submit your own, click the little blue frog.

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41 thoughts on “MftS: Black Fur and Whiskers”

  2. Cats, such divas. I can never get ours to look at the camera, either. But Jeffrey’s a handsome fella 🙂

    I love ‘The Wizard’s Guide to Parenting’ – great title. Great story, too, but slightly worrying, too. I suppose you can never be too careful with parenting books 😀

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    1. Cats are all born divas! I really wanted to keep that title but didn’t want to give away the story too soon – thinking up a new one probably took me longer than writing the rest of the story. 🙂 I think anything in a parenting book has to be looked at very carefully. When you add wizardry into the mix there are so many ways things could go wrong! Thanks for visiting. 😀

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  5. That was an excellent Louise! I think that the title worked on this and that the other one would have given it away. Nicely done and thanks for participating again. Be well…. ^..^

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  6. I can imagine that this is what all cats must think when they do not wish to be disturbed. They give one this look of “please, just go away”. Very amusing story and I hope the change is not a permanent one. The former title too is very good, as it sounds like the start of a humorous book, but I agree, it would have given the story away.

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    1. Jeffrey definitely hopes the change isn’t a permanent one – though I think Emelie would be quite happy if it was! I’m glad you found it amusing. 🙂 I felt the need to write something a little lighter this week. My stories have been getting increasingly dark lately!

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  12. That was a very original and creative take on the picture and prompt. I find it funny how our stories have coincidentally similar names for the cat (or wizard daddy cat, in this case)- Jeffrey and Geoffrey.

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  14. I expect a small mispronunciation at a vital part of the spell was all it took. Sounds like his daughter’s pretty happy about the way things turned out, though 🙂

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  17. Good story with two great titles. Titles are important. My father had a period in his career where he was painting a lot of non-objective abstract canvases. His idea was that the painting should be of “whatever the viewer saw”. He recognized that something had always inspired him though so his titles would never give a clue of what he saw in the painting. Never. You did good with your title choice.
    Jeffrey is quite the handsome gato.

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  19. Such a cute story, although I do feel sorry for kitty- toddlers aren’t the gentlest of creatures when it comes to showing their affection! And Jeffrey is a gorgeous fella isn’t he? 🙂

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    1. Thank you. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed it. Toddlers can be incredibly rough with their affection! Jeffrey is a very handsome cat – and he knows it. I used to have a cat who could have been his twin. He unfortunately died a few years ago. 😦

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