The Adventures of the Kingston Cats

Follow the adventures of a family of Jamaican housecats who decide to see the world outside their Kingston home.

Chapter One

Once upon a time in the city of Kingston, on the beautiful Island of Jamaica, there lived the Felis family. There were Midnight Rose & Tiger Lily, who were sisters; Rose’s daughter Iris and her cousin Jonquil.

One day they were all lying around doing nothing as usual when Iris said “Hey, guys, when I go exploring as far as I go there’s still more to see. Where do you think it all ends?”

Jonquil jumped on the chair & responded “You’re right cuz, at night when Our Man & Our Woman are sleeping, I go on line & read stories about all sorts of places.”

“Now look here girls,” said Lily, “Don’t get any fur-brained ideas, we get fed lots of nice food & lie around on Persian rugs all day. We have a great life!”

“But Ma,” protested Jonquil, “Don’t you ever wonder what’s outside? Iris & I never meet any guys except Big Head & the Orange Menace. Big Head is OK, I guess, but Orange Menace is really weird. I’m glad I did those karate classes & can chase him off; & besides, don’t you ever wonder where The Tattoo Man came from?”

“I liked him,” replied Iris, “He played with me & gave me cheese.”

“Yes, “said Lily. “But when he left My Girl went with him. They must have gone somewhere!”

“You’re right Ma.” Responded Jonquil, “Why don’t we go on an expedition? We don’t even need to carry food, there’s lots of lizards & mice around & if you & Aunt Rose don’t want to catch any we’ll catch them for you!”

“All right,” responded Rose in an exasperated tone. “But we’ll take Our Man’s laptop & Our Woman’s camera so we can keep a record.”

“And I’ll take a cushion,” added Lily. “I’m not sleeping on the ground! When do you want to leave?”

“After dinner!” replied the others in unison.

The cats made their plans. "Remember, it's top secret," said Rose.

"Well," responded Lily "Top secret from our humans; they'll only try to stop us. But maybe we should tell our dogs, just in case."

"Yes, Ma. I agree," concurred Jonquil.

So they quietly went outside & spoke to Zeus & his wife Hera.

"Can I go, Can I go!" were the first words out of Hera's mouth.

"Take it easy," said Zeus in his firm & calm voice "There are places cats can go that dogs can't. I personally don't think it's the brightest idea I've ever heard but you girls seem determined. I just have one thing." Zeus went into his kennel but returned shortly. "Iris, you are the most agile & you have done more exploring than the others. Take this, it's a magic whistle. If you get into any trouble blow it as hard as you can & we'll come for you. I might be getting on a bit but I am still an Alpha Male & have a lot of fight left in me. Good luck on your expedition & be very, very careful."

And so, late that night, when the humans were sound asleep, the girls packed up what they needed and headed for the unknown……..

Soon it was light and dozens and dozens of cars started to drive up and down at great speed. They were on a road much wider than any they had seen before and there were as many cars as were in the entire Universe going in both directions. Not slowly like the Man did when he came home at night, but faster than any cat could run! The girls ran off the road and continued on their way by jumping over wall after wall until they came to a very colourful building. They read the sign, for they had taught themselves to read all those late nights at the computer, “The Bob Marley Museum” read the sign. There was wonderful music playing inside.

“Let’s see if we can get breakfast,” said Rose. So they jumped over that wall and were inside.

Chapter Two

All of a sudden around the corner came a tall, regal looking black cat. “I and I extend greetings to the wary travelers, my name is Puss-I.  Come in and join us while we break our fast”. This was great; they had arrived just in time for breakfast! Puss-I led them around the side of the building where there were six other cats around a huge dish of what looked like spinach and fish. “We are good Rastafarians,” said Puss-I, “We eat ital. No meat or salt only vegetables and fish”.

The girls looked at each other; they’d never in their lives eaten vegetables, not on purpose anyway, and none of them were particularly fond of fish. “Eat it all,” whispered Lily, “no matter what it tastes like. Show good manners.” So, after a hard night of travel, they all dug in and to their surprise the meal tasted delicious.

After breakfast they all curled up and went to sleep and later that afternoon Puss-I took them around the museum and told them all about Bob Marley. He was a really wonderful poet and musician who lived generations ago. He traveled the world, singing his poetry & soon, everyone in the world knew what beautiful music Jamaicans made.

"And I & I am the keeper of the shrine," finished Puss-I "No pilgrim can enter these gates unless they get permission from the I."

The girls felt very humble to have met such an important cat on their very first stop & were very quiet while they listened to his stories. There were lots of humans at the museum, some speaking in languages that were not Cat, Dog nor Humenglish. Puss-I said they were Japanese & German, they came from far, far away!

After Puss-I had told them all his stories, they listened to lots and lots of music & then had another nap.

When it got dark they had some delicious fried fish and Puss-I saw them to the gate and they were on their way again. They were seasoned travelers now so they kept off the road and climbed over fences from house to house.

Click here to buy stuff with pictures of the Cats at the Museum.