The Cat Who Signed

By Sandra McDonald

"The trouble with cat people is that they cater and spoil the little beasts. You have to be firm. Set limits." Or so Dylan, a deaf writer in Ohio, believes when he accepts an invitation to cat-sit for a friend in Brooklyn in return for a week's free lodging. Soon enough he realizes Milord's no ordinary cat. Not only does he need extraordinary catering to his every whim, but he's very adept at making his displeasure known if Dylan doesn't obey. Soon the two are at war--and only one can win. A humorous story by the award-winning author Sandra McDonald, who herself has many cats.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandra McDonald
• Release date: Apr 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311712400

Sandra McDonald

SANDRA MCDONALD has been a Hollywood assistant, a software instructor, a bureaucrat, and an officer in the US Navy. Her short fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere. Her novels include The Outback Stars and The Stars Down Under. She lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

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The Cat Who Signed

Sandra McDonald

Copyright 2011 by Sandra McDonald

Smashwords Edition

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This story originally appeared in the magazine Icarus.

This book may be victim of typo elves. If you spot any errors, please let me know at www.sandramcdonald.com and I will correct the error as well as send you a replacement e-copy. Thank you! Elves are lovely creatures but somewhat troublesome.

Table of Contents

Start of story

About Sandra McDonald

Connect with Sandra McDonald

Praise for Sandra's work

The Cat Who Signed

by Sandra McDonald

I've never liked cats, but somehow I always end up dating guys who love them. One ex-boyfriend would obsess over a web site that showed kittens doing cute things like curling up in bathroom sinks or snuggling into dresser drawers. As if we need fur clogging the drain or clinging to our sweaters. Another ex-boyfriend spent hours and hours making up grammatically incorrect captions for pictures of cats in improbable poses, such as hanging off curtains: I can haz rescue plz? He could amuse herself all night long. This is how the internet ruins relationships, if you ask me.

When my friend Gary emailed me to cat-sit for his cousin in Brooklyn, I said no thanks.

A week of free lodging in NYC, Dylan! he wrote. A million museums, two million stores, and three million cute boys!

A week in Brooklyn in late summer