Ming
Ming is a very friendly white male about eight years old. He needs to be an indoor cat as he is bewildered by the outside world. Sadly his owner has died.
Starlight and Ming didn’t get on, however, and the issues involved soon divided us. I attacked Caroline, who sided with him, for not having taken a magnifying glass to the photo of Ming in the Flyer, for not having been sufficiently thorough before deciding to take him in. In his picture Ming, advertised as an indoor cat, was indeed somewhere outside—sitting on what might have been a letter box, next to some kind of cage arrangement, maybe tied up. Once we had him home he freaked out. He had Starlight performing twists in mid-air faced by snarls and open claws. The raging romps they had were faster than the eye could follow. Dust rose from the carpets. Poor Starlight. His years of contented purring were over.
Furthermore he disappeared.
Within a month Ming grew to be a big cat. His stumpy legs no longer looked odd once he grew new graceful proportions. But he seemed threatening, and in the light of the events in King Kong we locked him in the room we originally planned for a study. We kept him there until we found him a new home.
Big cat crowd-puller in shining health, twelve last birthday and could live to be twenty. Ming would be an enriching addition to any zoo. To our great regret we are having to sell this major asset to raise funds to keep our much-loved theme park afloat.
Uttoxeter almost got Ming but not quite. Our zoo’s sealed bid beat them. We don’t tether him but we regularly sedate him and have put a locating chip in his shoulder so we can follow his movements from the safety of a control unit. Visitors cannot get over his immaculate silken coat. Thanks to our marketing campaign he is becoming a kind of media hero, which is basically why we keep him. He will not have a litter because there is no other cat of his kind. The other cats loathe him.
Stands four feet high, pure white coat, moody, may or may not look ferocious. This animal has escaped and is dangerous. Ming will be consternated by the outside world. On no account approach him or panic. Call 999 immediately, alert your neighbours and stay indoors.
There he is, after all this time. I thought he’d be dead by now, gone like snow on the water. By coming here he surely hoped to find Caroline. But it’s me he’s found, me who took him in long ago. Standing in the garden, as if all he’d eat would be a dandelion. His slow breaths showing in the frosty air. Better I take him inside, before he attacks a member of the public or causes a motorway pile-up. Ming, remember me? Remember Starlight?
John Saul‘s short fiction has appeared extensively in the UK and elsewhere. He has had three collections of stories published (Salt Publishing, UK). Call It Tender was described by The Times as ‘witty and playful’, proof that ‘the short story is not only alive but being reinvigorated in excitingly diverse ways’; The Most Serene Republic: love stories from cities was well-received in Time Out. He has a website with more information at www.johnsaul.co.uk