Nocturnal Events

A story where the animals have a say in their own lives.

NOCTURNAL EVENTS

 

One after the other, the small houses were approached by their owners with dogs that also formed an important part of the household. The dogs were considered members of the family. The men and women who were out for the evening walk greeted each other, and each gave a strong stare to the other dog. Those who had bigger pets felt they had an edge over those with smaller dogs. When the dogs met in the street, they usually gave a growl or a friendly bark. One dog’s reaction to another dog reflected the attitude of its owner. The dogs came in all shapes, sizes, and colours. Their owners came in two types - sociable and antisocial. The first type was quite willing to stop for a chat about this and that and dogs: the second type felt it was very down-market to chat to anyone on the basis of having a dog. The dogs themselves didn’t have any of those problems, they wanted to chase one another in the park, something that was only permitted by the first type of owner.

 

Cats dominated the neighbourhood. The cats generally ignored the dogs, except when they had nothing much to do, and so, to make up for the boredom of their existence, would enter a garden where a frantic shut-in dog would go absolutely crazy, barking and jumping around all over the house, scratching at the windows, to watch a cat eating his food, and then urinating on the lawn. The females left a permanent sign that they had been visiting, by marking the emerald green grass with a bright yellow stain.

In a house where the two pets, cat and dog, resided, it was considered very unfair to give a toy to one and not the other.

 

Snowflake was a white, fluffy Persian cat who, due to her extremely long fur, looked three times her real size. She was a queen in all senses of the word. Her owners, Richard and Petra, were crazy about her, and she had not only the best chair in the living-room but her own bed in their bedroom. (That was when she wasn’t out with the neighbouring cats on a midnight prowl.) Snowflake spent the majority of the day asleep on her chair, which was covered by a bright pink blanket during the winter, and a soft cotton one in the summer. Adding everything up, one could say she was a very spoilt cat. When Richard and Petra were out at work she lay on her chair, daydreaming about nothing in particular. Well, at least, that was the appearance she gave. Her loving owners knew nothing of her slipping out at night to get up to who-knows-what when they were fast asleep. Snowflake never gave anything away, and so one day, when Petra noticed that her beloved queen was beginning to lose her streamlined figure, Richard and Petra took Snowflake to see the local vet, who gently informed them, “Snowflake’s going to have kittens in a few weeks. I suppose she’s been mated with another Persian like herself?”

Richard and Petra, who knew nothing of Snowflake’s nocturnal activities, stared at her, and then at each other “How on earth could she be pregnant?” Petra asked the vet.

“Quite simple, Snowflake has been on heat and gone out alone and unsupervised, and met up with someone who fancied her.”

“And what about the kittens, what colour will they be?” Richard asked.

“We shan’t know until they’re born, unless she has mated with another white Persian. Are there any more in your district that you know of?” the vet asked them.

Snowflake’s owners exchanged looks and shrugged their shoulders, and said unanimously, “We don’t know of any other white Persians. So, what do we do?”

“We all wait till she has her kittens, and then see the results. The best thing is that, whatever the colouring the kittens have, they won’t be difficult to find homes for, as they will probably have lovely long fur. So please don’t get all worried about her. The best thing is to keep her indoors for a while, as she’ll be having them soon. If you see anything happening, please let me know.”

Snowflake was quite happy to stay indoors and gave no worries at all, happy in her expectancy.

 

A few houses along the road from Snowflake, was the home of Ulysses, a large, long-haired, white dog. His owner was an ex-policeman who was now employed as a night watchman, and took Ulysses to work with him every night. The two made a handsome couple, as Liam had white hair too. The main idea of having a night watchman was to make sure that nobody entered the electronics warehouse without authorisation. Liam took a packed supper with him for the two. Ulysses was quite happy wandering around, sniffing everything that he came across during his night’s stay at the warehouse. Liam had a small room to sit in and be comfortable during the long hours, and he had a small television to keep him company, and a laptop too. Ulysses and Liam knew Snowflake, and both asked themselves what had happened to her. Richard was not one to chat about personal affairs, and was not all that keen on having to admit that his precious cat had been made pregnant by an unknown feline. Liam sat evening after evening in his little room with Ulysses, trying not to let boredom set in. He saw other dog owners walking their dogs, and wished Ulysses could speak. Obviously it would be nicer for the dog if his owner took him for a walk, rather than loaf around in a warehouse every night. Liam thought that he might forego the extra money that the night watchman job gave him, and stay at home more with Ulysses. In fact, he didn’t need the money, because his pension more than covered his necessities. There were times when he wished something exciting would happen, and then remembered the saying, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’

 

In the corner house lived Evangeline with her two cats, Ginger and Marmite. Ginger was a reddish-coloured neutered tom, and Marmite a pure-black spayed queen. The three lived in the most blissful atmosphere that any cat lover - or cat - could imagine. Once upon a time, Evangeline had been married but, as so often happens, her marriage had taken a turn for the worse when her husband had come home to pack his bags, and told her he was moving in with a friend of hers. Some friend! Evangeline had thought at the time, and hoped that the pair of them would be happy in their very neat and tidy bungalow, with the delightful lawn, which was so smooth and green. The plants were in colours that matched each other. There wasn’t a weed to be seen and, of course, no cats or dogs.

As soon as the dust from her husband’s shoes had disappeared, Evangeline had gone and adopted two cats. They had always been together, according to the people who ran the cattery. It didn’t matter, as Evangeline was not a believer in only children, and had happily taken the two home with her. They were a real pair, and Marmite used the next door garden, where a Pekinese called Precious lived, as a short cut to meet up with other cats. It wasn’t unknown for Ginger and Marmite to urinate on the lawn. Evangeline always thought that it was a pity that it wasn’t her ex-husband’s new wife’s lawn. Evangeline had worked in the hat department of a large department store for many years, but then got tired of waiting on tetchy customers and had retired with a not bad pension. Her two furry friends were the only company she wanted for the moment. After watching the nightly series or a film on television, Evangeline would go up to her solitary bed and read till she still had just enough energy left to switch off the light. Ginger and Marmite were on her bed and stayed there until she was fast asleep. Then very gently, without waking her, they slipped off her bed, down the stairs, and through the cat-flap, and into the night.

 

Precious was a Pekinese, a yappy type of dog, and when he saw the neighbouring cats out on their nightly prowl, would start making an ear-splitting noise till his owners, a young couple called Hope and Dave, got out of bed and let him upstairs. That wasn’t what Precious wanted. His barking in such a disgusting manner was to let him out of the house to go out with the cats, even though they didn’t want him.

Hope and Dave had a friend who owned a dog called Tilly, a border collie, who was idolized by her owner, Mary-Jo. Precious was very small and loved being with Tilly, as it made him feel bigger in his eyes, and he enjoyed running around the park behind her. Tilly could outrun Precious very easily but, in spite of this, the two dogs were friendly with each other. Precious, although so small, was quite capable of dragging either Hope or Dave along the road, and then on other occasions he would sit down and pretend he couldn’t move, and had to be carried home, where, as soon as he saw his bowl of water, jumped down, ran towards it, and began lapping away furiously at the water. Tilly was much better behaved, and walked along the road with Mary-Jo, as if born to receive orders.

 

Petra and Richard were away from home with a very pregnant Snowflake when she had her kittens, which were all white like their mother. They couldn’t make it out. The vet said that the father was another white Persian. They told the vet they didn’t know any other white Persian where they lived. The vet then admitted that he had a white Persian on his books which lived a few streets away from Snowflake.

“I think we’d better pay a call on the owner of the white Persian tom, who is going around making queens pregnant. As soon as she’s over the kittens, we’d like to have her spayed, if that’s all right with you?” Richard declared to the vet.

“Yes, it’s perfectly all right with me. I have a horrid feeling that the tom’s owners wanted to make money out of the kittens.”

“Well, they won’t be making any money out of Snowflake’s kittens. We’re going to keep one and the others are already promised. So, if what you say is true, then the owner of the tom is in for a nasty shock,” Richard added.

 

That night, after leaving Snowflake and her kittens with the vet, who wanted to make sure that mother and children were all fit and healthy, Richard and Petra got home very late. As they opened the kitchen door they heard the sound of an animal scratching. They switched on the light and saw a fox sitting in Snowflake’s bed and staring at them. Richard shooed the fox out through the cat-flap, and rang the vet to find out what to do. The vet was on the point of ringing up an old friend of his, who also worked for the animal protection society, when he received another call from Evangeline, to tell him that she had found a fox in her kitchen and that it must have got in through the cat-flap. At first, when she had seen the orange fur, she thought it was Ginger - till she saw it up closer. The vet told her not to worry, but he was the one to be worried, as he put down the phone he received other calls from other pet owners in the same street. He eventually got through to his friend, and told him about the foxes that had been seen in several houses in the same street not long before.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” the other man answered.

 

Meanwhile some of the dogs were making a terrible fuss, barking when they should have been asleep. The owners of Ulysses, Precious, and Tilly couldn’t make it out. Their pets were behaving in a manner quite unlike their usual selves.

 

It seemed as if the vet’s friend was taking a rather long time to get to their street, and nobody knew what to do with the foxes. They couldn’t just leave them around their houses, because they were afraid for their small pets and other animals. Eventually he arrived, and was escorted to the area where the foxes had been found. He caught them, and put them into large animal boxes like the ones used for cats. He put the boxes inside the van, and then went back to the owners and said, “I suggest you get in touch with the fox society, they will tell you what to do to prevent them coming back. Well, goodnight, and don’t worry.” With those words the man drove off.

 

The vet rang up his friend and associate in the animal world, and asked him about his night’s adventures with the foxes.

“The foxes had been put into those houses deliberately. I’ve been trying for ages to get some good photos for a fox calendar. As you know, I take photos of animals in unusual situations, where you don’t expect to see them. The idea of putting foxes in urban places, fitted in with what I know about them”

 “Where will the foxes go?” the vet asked.

“They will go back to the fox sanctuary, and later be let out into the wild. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, and thanks for going round to help so fast,” the vet said.

 

The friend drove for a long time, till he reached a large house in the country, where he stopped his van. The name on the entrance was PHOX PHOTOS. The back of the van was opened up where he had put the animal boxes. He then let the foxes out into a very large place for them to run around in. They jumped out, all eager to be back home.

The man went into his house, a woman of a similar age, about forty years old, came to greet him. “How did it go? Did you manage to get any good photos of the foxes in people’s houses?”

“Not many. I’ll just have to wait till a better opportunity comes up. It’s a pity, as some of them had managed to get inside the houses and one had got onto a bed.”

“Did you really think you would get away with taking photos of the foxes in other people’s houses?”

“Yes, why not? They’re lovely animals, and we make good money from the photos we’ve taken of them. One or two them should be fantastic, especially the one all comfortable on the bed, but I haven’t checked the quality yet. The people reacted very rapidly, and before I knew what was happening, someone told me they had rung up the vet I know, who told them the foxes wouldn’t hurt anybody, as it wasn’t their territory and therefore wouldn’t attack anyone.”

 Even though the owners of the cats and dogs had been informed by the vet that the foxes represented no danger to their pets, everyone was happy to see them go.

 

Evangeline was nervous because she lived alone in a house with a garden, and she started having nightmares about all kinds of unwelcome animal guests turning up at her house. A few weeks later, saw her down at the coast in search of a nice apartment above ground level. On a pleasant afternoon, the estate agent she had employed to help her, accompanied her to view a sea-front apartment. It had everything anyone living by the sea could want. The view from the living-room was of the sea and the beach. There was plenty of space for Evangeline and her cats - the place lacked nothing. Evangeline was enchanted with it, and said to the estate agent, “I am sure I want it. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

“That’s fine, then let’s get back to my office and begin sorting out the papers, and if there will be any mortgage. Although as you already own your house outright, I can’t see that as forming part of your apartment buying situation.”

They went down to the ground floor in the lift, and as they passed the post boxes, Evangeline’s eyes saw the name Mr F Fox, and that the number of the apartment was the one next to the one she had fancied until that moment. Evangeline looked at the estate agent and said, “I’m sorry but I’ve changed my mind about buying the apartment. Have you any others to show me?”

The estate agent couldn’t believe his ears but, fortunately, he had met a lot of clients in his work life that went from hot to cold in a few minutes. “Actually, I do have other options for you to view, but the apartment we’ve just seen is the best one. But if you’ve decided against it, so be it. Let’s go and view some more before it gets any later.”

“Thank you very much for being so patient with me. I’m sure the next one will be just perfect for me.”

The estate agent smiled to himself, and thought Evangeline was rather sweet in her totally innocent way of behaving. Evangeline wondered what he would say if she told him the true reason behind her change of mind.

She didn’t have to worry. The next apartment was the one she chose, and by that time the estate agent had chosen her to be his lady-friend.

He too was a cat lover, and Ginger and Marmite, chose to abuse his good nature by sitting on his lap and showing him their furry tummies to be stroked every time he visited.

 

Snowflake’s kittens were given good homes, and she was allowed to keep one. Richard and Petra had her spayed, in order to avoid more kittens.

 

The owners of the tom cat that was still the anonymous tom, never saw the kittens.

 

Richard and Petra, had the same idea as Evangeline, and sold up and went to live in a quiet country town.

 

The foxes are still running around in their special piece of land, unrestricted. Phox Photos often gets filming jobs and adverts with the foxes. As he works for the animal protection society as well, he has more than enough work with photos of foxes, and other animals, for calendars and adverts.

 

Liam and Ulysses also left the area. Liam joined a darts club in the pub nearest to their new home, also on the coast. Ulysses enjoys the long walks on the beach in summer, but less in winter.

 

The foxes had done their magic, and had given some people a new approach to life.