A daily gourmet visitor

Last night I dropped in at my mother’s to tell her about the ‘shower shopping’ we did on her behalf. She was resting after having spent the best part of the afternoon working in the garden. I can’t get over the fact that she's still so active at her age, 83 since last month. I simply can’t imagine doing all the things she’s doing when I’ll have her age; if I ever get to live that long!

She was sitting in the veranda enjoying the evening sun and looking at her garden. I pulled up a chair and explained all the details concerning her new shower. At some point I noticed that she was hardly listening to me and was focusing on something in the garden. A few seconds later I saw what it was …

'Peekaboo!!'

Twice a day, around lunch and supper time, this cute pussycat comes strolling down the garden path and takes up a strategic position under the kitchen window. And there it waits, patiently, until my mother has finished her meal … as it knows that it’ll get the leftovers. Mind you, it’s a very discerning pussycat, that won’t eat anything that is overcooked or too spicy. It doesn’t like sauces and won’t even touch tinned food!

Except last night. My mother had had some tinned mackerel fillets on toast and there was one fillet left. She put it on a plate which she placed on ground at about a metre from where miss pussycat was sitting. As soon as my mother had closed the door of the veranda, the cat casually walked over to the plate. It sniffed at the mackerel, looked up to the sky as if to check there were no predators lurking overhead that might try to attack and steal the food. Reassured the cat sniffed the fillet again and carefully licked it. Apparently it liked what it tasted, because after a second glance into the air, it delicately started nibbling the mackerel, licking its ‘lips’ frequently.

 I'm warning you! Stay away from my food.

Hardly a minute later, the mackerel and the cat had disappeared. We saw the cat strolling up the garden path again. At the end of it it disappeared into the bushes … Until tomorrow, well actually today, when it will turn up again around lunchtime. My mother is making chipolatas and spinach for lunch today. I wonder whether miss pussycat will like the spicy chipolata sausages …