Katherine pretends to be a boy!
It is almost
Davie's first birthday and he was wondering who he should
invite to my party. For a kitten, he have lots of friends, and
some of them are even human. One of these is Katherine, who is
nearly seven and lives in a house nearby with her Mum and Dad.
Today Katherine told Davie a secret, which she asked me to
tell only to you, so you won't tell anyone else, will
you?
Katherine said that she had played in a football
team with some boys. I was surprised because girls DON'T play
football with boys here. They can't because the local boys
don't allow it (and say that girls can't play football
anyway). Dad didn't believe this story either, so he asked
Katherine's Mum what had happened.
"It was very funny",
she laughed, "we went to a Car Boot Sale at the primary school
just down the road, not the one that Katherine's at, because I
wanted to see if they had any stuff for the garden. Katherine
saw a boy's football team practising on their football pitch
and wanted to join in. I said 'No', because she would get
muddy and the boys wouldn't let her anyway."
"But, Mum,
I am wearing my old jeans and it won't matter if I get dirty",
Katherine whispered, "and they don't know I'm a girl. I've
just got a new haircut and my two front teeth have just come
out, so I can't speak properly. You call me Matthew and I'll
pretend I'm a boy"!
Katherine's Mum thought this would
be a good joke and she spoke very loudly, so the boys would
hear:
"Matthew, I don't want you getting all dirty, you
aren't dressed for football".
"But, Mum, can't I just
have a quick kick of the ball? I promise I won't get
muddy."
"Oh, all right, but be quick as I want to see
if there is any garden stuff left."
So Katherine dashed
off to join the boys and the biggest one there smiled at her
and said:
"Hey, Matthew, have a shot at
goal!"
"Thank you", replied Katherine, winding up to
take a run at the ball.
She kicked just wide of the
goalkeeper, but he moved and caught the ball
easily.
"Bad luck, Matthew," said the big boy, "better
luck next time".
So Katherine tried again. This time
the goalkeeper didn't save it.
"Come along, Matthew",
said Katherine's Mum, trying hard not to grin, "That's enough.
We can't play football all day and we've got to get those
plants before they are all gone"
"Oh, all right, Mum"
replied Katherine reluctantly, "See you sometime,
lads".
"Right on, Matthew", they all said.
Then
Katherine and her Mum finished their visit to the footballers
and went off to see if they could find the plants they had
come to buy. After they got home, they came to tell me and
Dad. He laughed too, but thought it was clever of Katherine to
pretend she was a boy. Her Mum said the boys never guessed and
still think Katherine is a boy called Matthew.
All this
started Davie and Dad thinking. If a boy cat could pretend to
be a girl cat, like Emmy next door, Biggles (Emmy's boyfriend)
wouldn't bully him any more.
"Not a good idea," Dad
said, "Biggles will take one sniff and find you out straight
away. Then you WOULD have to run!"
"It's true", I
thought sadly, "Biggles knows me too well
already."
Perhaps I could try being a girl cat
somewhere else. What do you
think?
© By
John Cheyne Click here to visit John's
Page