The Cat Nine: A Cat’S-Eye View of Progress

By Christine Hunter

The Cat Nine is a small strip of land that separates the Havelots and the Haveless. The Havelots live in mansions, buzzing with technology. The Haveless live in townhomes, largely devoid of technology. To the cats that live with the Havelessor Radicats, as they call themselvesthe Cat Nine is a sanctuary, a place where they experience life, absorb its lessons, and play by natures rules. Its their key to survival, with mice, birds, and snakes in abundance. To the cats that live with the Havelotsor Technocats, as they call themselvesthe Cat Nine is a virtual realm, where they are paid to rid the sanctuary of all rodent, avian, and reptilian species so their unscrupulous boss can further his ambitions.

A zealous Radicat alerts the Haveless cats to the impending demise of their sanctuary. They rally around their appointed leader, Charlie, who concocts a battle plan to preserve the Cat Nine as a playground for all free cats.

The Cat Nine takes a fanciful and satirical look at human progress as seen through the eyes of a cat. It presents arguments for preserving nature and lessening human reliance on technology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475981216

Christine Hunter

The author—Christine Hunter, as she calls herself—is a former journalist, whose passion for cats stems from her early years in England, when a stray followed her home. She currently lives in Colorado.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Christine Hunter

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.iuniverse.com

1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4759-8120-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-8121-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904492

iUniverse rev. date: 05/22/2013

Contents

Chapter 1—Sinbad

Chapter 2—The Refuge

Chapter 3—The Commitment

Chapter 4—Early Morning Cat Nine Activity

Chapter 5—Infiltration

Chapter 6—Cat Philosophy

Chapter 7—Poetry and Postulation

Chapter 8—Ming Ming of the RSPCN

Chapter 9—Bhucat, Protector of Atcat

Chapter 10—Christine Hunter

Chapter 11—Nelson’s Journey

Chapter 12—Assignments

Chapter 13—The Challenge

Chapter 14—The Battle

For my family, friends, and neighbors, and in memory of Charlie—the inspiration for this cat tale.

Charlie1.tif

Chapter 1—Sinbad

The whir and drone of earthmoving machines jolted Sinbad out of his two-story cot in the two-story townhome where he was Father Confessor, Mother Teresa, and Boy Scout, all rolled into one. He snapped to all fours and peered out of the downstairs window. He saw yellow machines razing the field across the street. He leaped from his bed to the antique desk to get a better view. His eyes bulged. He raced upstairs, jumped over the sleeping Audrey, and landed on the dresser in front of the upstairs window. The machines were bigger and uglier than he had thought. Their steel claws ripped into the field, tugged at roots, and spat out mice that he and other cats had quarreled over, prairie dogs they had hissed at, rabbits they had chased, snakes that had slithered out of grasp, squirrels they had scampered after, and birds that had flirted with captivity. These animals’ habitats, hiding holes, and comfort zones were piled into trucks and hauled away. Sinbad watched the machines scrape and strew, scrape and strew. By midmorning, the field was brown and flat. There were no grasses, no bushes, no trees, no animals, no snakes, no birds—nothing worth fighting over and nothing worth fighting for.

Humans called it progress. Sinbad called it devastation. To the north, a prairie dog colony had been sown over with a golf course. To the east, tall mansions had been planted in tight rows to satisfy the rural designs of urban defectors. Sinbad slowly padded to the back upstairs window, jumped on the seaman’s trunk that had belonged to Pavlov, Audrey’s late husband, and peered out at the Cat Nine. This was all that was left for cats, and even this last refuge was under attack—from forces far more insidious than yellow machines operated by men in orange.

By virtue of the band of white fur around his neck, Sinbad was vested with an obligation—a calling—to alert free cats to impending destruction.

Early the next morning, he scented out that a gathering would be held Wednesday, October 24, at 10:00 a.m. at Audrey’s. His keeper, now in her eighties, left punctually at 9:45 a.m. every Wednesday for a game of cribbage. As the front door closed, Sinbad plumped cushions and set out water bowls.

The first to arrive was Chibby, a vivacious tan-and-white calico. She was followed by her brother, JJ, a black-and-white longhair with a white-tipped tail. They lived across the parking lot from Audrey, with Susie and Wayne. Padding next into the room, blue eyes glancing warily, were Mokie and Charlie, the Seal Point Siamese who lived catty-corner