Cat’s Eyes

by John Ritchie

I can’t remember when I first noticed them, but once I did I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I soon realized they were best seen from the front seats on the top deck of a double decker bus at dusk or in the early evening. So very quickly, Autumn and Winter became my favourite seasons, much to the disgust of a significant proportion of the rest of humanity, or at least that small quantity of it which immediately surrounds me.

Mum doesn’t like the colder months and tries to go into hibernation in a mobile cocoon of coats, scarves and wooly hats. I am, therefore, also swaddled as soon as the first leaf falls. My older brother, on the other hand, is ‘Licensed to Kill’ as my Dad calls it. In other words he gets away with murder, and is allowed to dress as he likes, whatever the weather.

My Dad is my principle conspirator and the main source of my upper deck bus trips. Mum says she doesn’t like heights, or those narrow winding stairs, but I suspect she is more concerned about men looking at her legs when she climbs up and down to the top deck on the bus. Though with all those clothes on I can’t imagine they can see much, or why they would bother in the first place.

But, for me there is magic on the top deck of the bus, a wonderful sense of flying above the world with the swoops and turns of the bus constantly changing your view point as though you are an eagle riding on the thermals of the hot, steamy traffic below.

Then there are the cat’s eyes. When you go over the brow of the hill the cats wake up in turn and look at you to check you are in the right place on the road, or so my Dad says. When it is wet you can hear them hiss in irritation, cats don’t like to be wet. But, when it is dry, you can hear them purr instead. That is until you run over them, then they arch their backs and make the road all bumpy and bad-tempered.

Rather like my Mum was that day when the downstairs part of the bus was full and she had to go upstairs with all the men looking at her legs.

I told her that Dad had told me that cats lived under the road and that their eyes watched all the cars and buses and made sure they behaved themselves and that the cats that sat on our garden wall and caught the baby sparrows were on their holidays. But, Mum just said:

“You are six years old, Sophie. Don’t talk such nonsense.”

After that I just looked at the cat’s eyes and tried to recognize the ginger tom, that used to come into our garden and chase the ball when I threw it for him. I knew he must be here somewhere, as he didn’t come into the garden anymore.

When Uncle Jack had his accident and broke his motorcycle, he said it was because he had skidded on wet leaves, but I suspected it was the cats that had clawed at his tyres, because as my Dad said, ‘He is a mad sod and all over the place.’ Which, I am fairly sure must be a bad thing, because the cats wouldn’t have scratched him, otherwise.

When we moved to a new house where my Dad said they didn’t need double decker buses because there weren’t so many people, I missed them for a little while, but then a lot more cats came on holiday so that was nice, until we got a Rustle called Jack, who chased the cats away. But then, he likes to play in the leaves and he chases snowballs, when I throw them, and tries to bring them back. So now I have a new best friend for those times when Mum is in hibernation.

John Ritchie likes cats and tries not to run over them when they are on their holidays.

Advertisement
  1. #1 by Sandra Davies on December 2, 2013 - 8:38 am

    Nice – reminded me of riding on the upper deck and my brother being scared when overhanging branches hit the window. Isn’t it the case that cat’s eyes are now being removed / replaced?

  2. #2 by Eric Nicholson on December 2, 2013 - 9:22 am

    Evocative but if your narrator is a six year old, she’s very precocious to be able to write like that!

  3. #3 by jennypellett on December 2, 2013 - 10:39 am

    Top front of the bus was always a treat – actually it still is. I’m interested to know why you made the narrator female, which only occurred to me when you called her Sophie?

  4. #4 by Linda on December 2, 2013 - 12:30 pm

    I enjoyed this. It brought back lots of memories, not of buses but of driving along country roads at night with only the cat’s eyes to guide the way.
    Noticing your name, I assumed the narrator was a boy so I was a bit surprised to discover he/she was called Sophie – not that it made any difference to the story.

    (I liked Sophie’s Dad’s story too.)

  5. #5 by John Ritchie on December 3, 2013 - 12:52 pm

    Hi Sandra

    Thank ing you for reading and commenting so kindly. I believe the old style cat’s eyes are being replaced, but hopefully this very useful contribution to road safety will be retained.

    Best

    John

  6. #6 by John Ritchie on December 3, 2013 - 12:54 pm

    Hi Eric

    I remember as a child being capable of complex thought, but without the vocabulary to express myself.

    Thank you for reading and commenting.

    Best

    John

  7. #7 by John Ritchie on December 3, 2013 - 12:59 pm

    Hi Jenny

    I can’t remember why I chose a female protagonist, though the name Sophie implies sophistication. But as I am sure you are aware stories sometimes write themselves. ;o)

    Best

    John

  8. #8 by John Ritchie on December 3, 2013 - 1:03 pm

    Hi Linda

    I seem to have surprised with my choice of MC. No particular reason for it as far as I can remember. Interesting though that you picked up on it.

    Best

    John

  9. #9 by Oscar Windsor-Smith on December 3, 2013 - 4:19 pm

    It is difficult to capture the voice of a young child convincingly. Your story did maintain my suspension of disbelief enough to evoke the innocent viewpoint. A fun read, John. Thanks.

    Regards

    Oscar

  10. #10 by John Ritchie on December 4, 2013 - 11:02 am

    Cheers, Oscar.

    Your kind comments are much appreciated. I am pleased you enjoyed the story.

    Best

    John

  11. #11 by jennifer walmsley on December 8, 2013 - 6:23 am

    I loved this and the child’s voice. A wonderful tale of innocence and a happy family. Brought back memories.

  12. #12 by John Ritchie on December 9, 2013 - 2:05 pm

    Hi Jennifer

    Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. I am delighted you enjoyed the story.

    Best

    John

What did you think?

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: