Boris
“Left-right left-right,” the mother cat commands stately. The little ones form a neat straight line and to the commands, they stately lift their legs upwards, just like their mother. They glance at each other now and then. This is not what they like to do. Mother is very sweet, but she can also be very strict from time to time.
Mother cat looks around and releases a short but inaudible sound from her mouth. Later they will understand why they have to practice this; she thinks and continues perkily. “Left-right left-right,” she commands again.
Buckie walks behind her and strokes his whiskers with his not yet fully grown paw. Suddenly he jumps on top of his mother’s back and slides down her tail again.
“Buckie, stop that immediately. You, especially you, must lead by example to others.”
Lovingly she gives him a tap on his buttocks with her tail and sighing she continues.
“Left, right, left, right.”
The kitten will march without struggling after her. There is a large loft at the entrance to the garden. Big enough to accommodate up to two giant dogs. It is Boris’s loft, and he is lazily enjoying the sun.
Because he is disturbed again from his afternoon sleep, he pulls up one of his eyelids. He sees mother cat, which he finds very arrogant, marching in a large circle around his loft.
“No, hey, there’s here again,” and puts his paw against his ears.
“Right left, right-left,” it sounds again through the garden.
The kitten starts giggling gently and makes a mess of it. Mother turns around and shouts, “Children pay attention, otherwise,” and she points to Boris.
Boris doesn’t like it anymore and understands that peace is now over. He turns around and dives into his loft.
“Kids, I’ll say it one more time, or I’ll tell your father,” mother warns them.
The kitten knows better, but they don’t contradict her. They’re taking their place again. The biggest cat in front, descending to the smallest and so mother marches with her kids again through the garden. With this exercise, she wants to teach her children the dangers of nature and its surroundings, but the kits want to play much more. Those exercises can be done later.
Mother counts her children. One, two, three…….
This is the moment where her kids are waiting for. Each time they change places, so that mother lost count. Sighing, mother puts them in the right place and starts counting again.
“Now you all have to listen to me. Can you see that big angry dog over there? If he realizes what a disorder it is with us, he will eat you one by one with skin and hair,” she hisses.
Boris looks at it them and shakes whit his head now and then. Grumpily he lets everything go over him. “What is that cat thinking,” he grumbles under his breath. “I’m certainly not going to chase her offspring. No, let me enjoy the sun.”
“Do you mean Boris, Mom,” asks Buckie.
Mother looks shyly in the direction of Boris and puts her nose high in the air and replies: “Yes, Boris, I mean him and now you must listen and pay attention!”
“Here I draw a scent trail,” and swaying whit her hips she shuffles around Boris’s loft, who pretends not to notice her. Does that cat never stop, he thinks? Always with her nose high in the air and that tail up, he thinks grumpily.
Boris stretches himself considerably and puts his head on his front legs and looks at what else that arrogant cat is up to with her offspring.
“You should not enter this circle,” continues mother.
“But Mom, we know that,” the little ones chuckle.
One of the kitten’s glances at Boris and sneaks to his cage. Right in front of his nose, the little one makes a dance.
As long as the mother is around Boris is uncomfortable and when he sees her looking in his direction, he grunts softly as if he said, “Get away with your hairy ass.”
Angry mother cat looks at him and a blowing sound is audible. Boris sees her ugly sharp teeth and the kitten stops giggling.
Buckie is angry with his mother and approaches her. Takes the tip of her tail and wants to pull it on to show his displeasure. It is not necessary to be so ugly to Boris, he thinks. But his sister Tootsie put her black and white spotted paw on his. Then Tootsie says: “Have you gone completely mad? If mom knows that we are friends with Boris, the garden is too small. Then we will not be allowed to go outside, and we all have to stay in the cat basket, and that will be your fault. Then something swings for you. You can count on it!’
He looks at his sister and let’s go of his mother’s tail and goes back to the queue, bucking.
Mother looks after him but says nothing. She clears her throat and says, “So kids all stay within this circle. Understood?’
“Yes, Mom, now we know,” they shout in harmony.
For a moment it looks like she wants to remind the children of the danger for Boris again, but instead, she gives each of them a big wet nose.
Buckie lovingly rubs his head against one of his mother’s front legs.
Mother is startled and stretches her leg forward. Buckie accidentally gets a kick from his mother and he rolls across the grass in the direction of Boris. Boris, who has just opened his mouth, because he has to yawn, catches Buckie in his mouth. Buckie is shocked. A thousand and one thoughts passing through him. He does not dare to move, and the others also watch in shock how this will end. Nobody understands why Boris is doing this. Could they have been wrong about him?
When they have recovered from the shock, they walk towards the big dog. Tootsie leads the way and, trembling with fear, approaches him.
Mother, who does not notice the whole thing, stares at the trees at the back of the garden. It is very quiet. She can hear the birds singing and mother sneaks to one of the trees. Suddenly she flexes her muscles and silently she walks to the foot of the big old oak.
There is Barend the crow, with spread wings and is staring at her. Mother stops at the bottom of the tree. She puts her nails in the bark and looks at Barend with wide-open eyes.
Mother retracts her nails and takes a few steps back. Then she jumps onto the rain barrel next to the storage shed. She realizes all too well that it will never be possible to catch him this way. Barend follows her closely and does not let his attention weaken. Suddenly he calls out to the very young birds to crawl deep into the nest. Then he spreads his wings and shouts: “Stay where you are, bad cat, you will not touch my children. I keep them high in the tree and don’t let them go until I’m sure they can safely leave the nest. So, get out of here soon or I’ll peck a hole in that head of yours.”
Mother cat moves nimbly, and in the meantime, she is sharpening her nails. A few times she jumps high in the air and shouts excitedly, “I don’t even like those ugly kids of yours.”
Eventually, she jumps off the rain barrel and puts her paws deep in the black ground.
What Barend doesn’t know is that she would never bother to get to his nest. She doesn’t understand why. Perhaps because she is also a mother herself and because she should not think about it that something would happen to one of her children.
She understands all too well the responsibility Barend carries for his offspring. A few days ago, she found one of Barend’s children at the bottom of the tree. Although her instincts had been strong, she had resisted it. She had taken the tiny bird at the bottom of the tree in her mouth and put it back in the nest.
At that point, all she could think about was her own offspring and hope that someone would do the same for her young too. Mother cat turns around and looks up with a smile. It’s a good thing he doesn’t know that she still thinks.
“Crow, crow,” screeches the frightened Barend.
With trembling legs is Tootsie still standing in front of Boris and looks anxiously at his big mouth. Boris pulls up his upper lip and suddenly starts to sneeze. Buckie flies into the air and ends up on the grass. He turns and says, “Hey, that was nice. I like that. Can we do that one more time, but you do smell awful from out your mouth?”
Tootsie doesn’t find it funny at all and gets angry with him. “You scare us to death. I don’t like those stupid jokes.”
Boris looks at her dreadfully and sputters: “Ma …, but I just had to yawn and suddenly I felt something very soft on my tongue.” He turns to Buckie and says, “You shouldn’t bother me like that anymore. It made me sneeze. If it happens again, you have to sit still.”
“There will be no next time. When mommy sees it,” Tootsie replies and looks anxiously back and sees that mother cat is not paying attention to them. “If mother finds out, we will no longer be allowed to enter the garden!”
“Now let me finish my afternoon nap. Get out of here,” Boris grumbles and he hope they’ll leave him alone for the rest of the afternoon, but you never know with those kittens. You never know in advance how long it could take before they would be back in front of his loft.
Mother cat comes up to her offspring and says, “I have to go to your fathers work to bring him his food. Your father has been so forgetful lately, she says.
Buckie runs up to her and together they walk to the edge of the garden. There she looks at her offspring for a while and reminds them to stay out of the way from Boris. They all nod and mother walk away with a sigh. Desperately, she looks back one more time and then she disappears under the bushes. Buckie watches her until she is out of her sight and then runs back to the others. Mother cat does not know, and that is a good thing, that her kitten does not always listen to her. Buckie hops meowing across the grass in the direction of Boris’s loft. He sees him coming and pretends he is sleeping.
“Come on Boris, get out of your loft. You have to keep your promise, “Buckie shouts.
“Let me sleep. Please,” Boris grumbles.
The kitten doesn’t like it that he’s so grumpy and they all start to tickle him.
Boris grunts for a moment, hoping that they’ll leave him alone, but none of them is impressed. They tickle him under the pads of his feet. Then all over his hairless stomach, whatever he does, nothing will stop them. He gets up and shakes them off his body and then sits in front of his loft. He looks around dreadfully. I’m going to find another boss or at least another garden, he thinks.
“Come on, Boris, don’t be so lazy,” chuckles Tootsie.
“You can talk easily. I have a thick coat and my loft is the only place where I can cool down,” he replies.
He counts the kitten and sees that they are all still there. I don’t understand how their mother can leave her children alone for so long. If I had children, I wouldn’t leave them alone, Boris thinks. Suddenly he feels a firm pull on his neck and two of the kittens pull on his collar. The others take the rope that is tied to his collar. Two of them push against his hind legs to get him moving.
“Hey, I surrender,” he grunts and straightens up.
‘One two. One two,” two of the kittens’ shout.
The rope that is attached to his collar is also attached to a ring in the wall. That is why it is now possible to turn the rope and when Boris makes rotating movements with his head, the game is complete. The kitten loves it and sings in unison.
“I’m already sick,” he grumbles and hopes they will feel sorry for him.
“Don’t whine Boris, let swing the rope,” shouts Spotty, a black and white spotted kitten.
They all sing a well-known song that belongs to the game they play.
After a while, Boris becomes so nauseous that he sees stars before his eyes. Fortunately, at that moment, they have had enough from the game and Boris stretches out on the grass.
Suddenly, the kittens rush into Boris’s loft and their hearts begin to beat faster in fear.
“That awful boy from next door is coming,” sobs Spotty. “He has seen us and is going to divorce us from Mom,” and crawls close to the wall of Boris’ loft. When Boris has recovered from his giddiness, he also sees the mischievous boy coming towards him. No, not again, I get it sour in my stomach from that boy. Wait, if he touches my friends with just one finger, I bite, or no, I first growl at him. That will be enough. But he is wrong about that. The mischievous boy has a huge stick in his hand and comes threatening to him. With his large body, Boris screens the opening of his loft. The kitten crawls between his thick fur and sees the young men approaching them. The stick he has in his hands swings through the air. A terrifying rush caused by the stick makes the kitten dive even deeper into Boris’s fur.
“Come on, you stupid dog. You’re stuck anyway, ha ha ha,” he shouts at Boris.
The kitten sees that the stick almost hits Boris’s nose. He’s getting closer and closer to Boris. Swings the stick around him and then hit Boris on his head. Before anyone realizes it, Boris jumps forward and sinks his teeth into the leg of the scoundrel. The kittens run away and at that moment mother cat returns from her trip. She sees what Boris is doing and quickly she brings her children to a safe place. Buckie, who is curious by nature, quietly walks back. Stops by the cat flap, and carefully he pushes it open and looks outside. He is so happy to see the man coming that his legs from joy tumble in the air.
The man took Boris by the scruff of the neck and ordered him to let go of the boy’s leg. Boris immediately obeys and releases the boy. The mischievous boy falls on the grass and Boris obediently lie down in his loft. The man walks up to the bad boy and asks how he is doing.
“That dog is bad. I have to go to the hospital. I’ll get to the police,” the boy screeched. The boss is silent and looks at him, grabs his leg and looks at it. Chuckles for a moment and says, “Get out of here before I bite your leg myself and believe me, that will look worse.”
The boy wants to say something else but sees that the man is getting really angry now. Quickly he runs away.
Boris does not dare to look at his owner and shakes all over his body. His boss pats Buckie, who has come to stand next to him, over his head and then he walks to Boris and says: “Well done Boris. You are looking well after the kitten,” and together with Buckie he walks back to the house. There Buckie tells his brothers and sisters what happened outside, and that Boris is safe again.