1 How inconvenient!
It was a warm Autumn's night in the heart of Neo London.
In amongst the neon covered giant structures, there existed a tiny Kingdom.
The Kingdom of Apartment 311-A, Mayfair Heights.
It's ruler: An old black-and-white cat by the name of Boots, or 'Your Highness', as he preferred. Who was currently preoccupied with lazily looking out the window at the passing sky-cars meandering their way through the maze of mega-skyscrapers. The structures were so vast and numerous that they blocked out the sky, but there was still plenty to look at; holo-ads, sky-cars, stupid birds and the like so Boots had always derived some small modicum of entertainment from gazing out at the scene.
'How much time have I wasted in front of this window over the course of my life?' Boots wondered, before slowly sitting up, and giving the back of his paw a reflexive lick. He was running out of time.
'Guess I should do the rounds.' he sighed internally.
On his slow walk around the living room, he thought about his previous incarnations. They were blurry distant memories, out of focus snippets of information that he'd never fully understood. He remembered fighting humans in long forgotten wars, stalking antelope through the savannahs of Africa, the unforgiving cold of the Canadian prairie's, he'd swam with the fish in the Atlantic, been chased through the British countryside by packs of ravenous hounds, flown for weeks at a time, slept for entire winter's, eaten grass all year round. He'd seen the world through so many pairs of eyes that by his ninth incarnation as a cat, he was a very tired soul. As most cats are.
All he knew was:
He was on his 9th life, and it would be his last.
He zig-zagged his way past the coffee table and blanket-covered bird cage and headed down the corridor to the bedroom. The bedroom door was slightly ajar, so he nudged it gently with his nose to allow himself just enough room to slide through.
Boots jumped up onto the bed and quietly walked to the crib pushed up against the foot of it. He looked disdainfully at the small quietly snoring bundle residing within. After a quick short flick of his tail he hopped down into the crib and pulled the blanket off the things face with his paw.
The baby Simon's eyebrows furrowed at the removal of the blanket. He unconsciously reached out and grabbed the first thing he found, which in this case was Boots's paw.
'Unhand me tiny human!' Boots roared internally, unsheathing the claws on his free paw and preparing to put an end to the ugly thing's life. He brought his paw down with ferocious speed, fully intending to mutilate and destroy!
Pat!
"Eh" gargled Simon.
At the last second Boots's claws had retracted, his paw landing harmlessly on Simon's cheek.
'Humph.' Boots grumbled. Closing his eyes, he thought of all the times he had been grabbed by the tail, had his whiskers pulled, been choked with hugs and sat on by this fat little lump, just the thought of it made his claws start to extend once more.
'No.' he shook his head, claws retracting. He knew it didn't know any better, this thing was in the infancy of its first life and couldn't even feed itself, let alone formulate malicious intent.
Carefully pulling his paw free, he considered his most useless servant for a moment.
"Know that today I have spared you. And that every day from this day forth is a present from me, your Master. I do this not for you, but for the man who's blood you carry, the man who has served me, for twenty long years." He meowed majestically at the now quietly smiling child.
'Hmm'
He gave the child a quick bop on the nose.
Simons smile turned into an uncomfortable grimace.
'Much better.' Boots said to himself as he hopped out of the crib, making his way between the two sleeping bodies of his servants. Whilst sitting on the side of Rachel's head, he said his second farewell.
"I never really liked you at first. And I shall never forgive you for that time you put me in the bath.." he shuddered, the painful memory resurfacing, "… however I am willing to let bygones be bygones. I need you to look after Adam for me. I'm sure he's going to have a hard time without me." he meowed solemnly, looking down at Rachel's squashed face.
"And thank you for all the pets" he said before administering a bop on the nose as a final coup de grâce.
Rachel scowled uncomfortably in her sleep.
'Good.' Boots nodded as he moved towards Adams sleeping face.
Adam. They had so many memories together, since his time as a kitten, under the reign of Boots's foster mother, Hattie. Adam had always been by his side, they had been through thick and thin together, them against the world. They'd had their ups and downs, of course. But Adam had been the one universal constant in Boots's long life. The one thing he couldn't do without.
Boots gently pressed his forehead against Adam's.
"I'm going on ahead of you old-bean, for that; I am truly sorry. I want you to know, after all our years together; I consider you my dearest, and truest, friend." he quietly meowed. Boots sat back for a second and took a lasting look at his most faithful servants face. Before giving him the softest bop on the nose he'd ever given.
Adam slept soundly; his face unchanged.
Boots nodded to himself once more but chose not to linger; time was of the essence. Hopping down from the bed he made his way back to the living room, there was one more person he needed to see.
Ginger, the stripey tabby-cat, was sleeping peacefully on the coffee table. Boots quickly pads into the room, then jumps up to the couch and softly hops across onto the table, next to her.
"Ginger, wake up."
"hmm" Ginger mumbles, still asleep
Bop!
"hnnuh"
Bo-Bo-Bop!
"Gah!" Ginger snaps awake, startled.
"Oh good, you're awake." says Boots, nonchalantly.
"Wah..?"
"I need you to shut up. And listen."
Ginger nods obediently, closing her mouth.
"The time has come for me to step down. I'm leaving you in charge of the kingdom…"
"But! Your Highness I…"
Bop!
"What did I say?" Boots frowned, flicking his tail.
"To sh …"
Bop!
Boots glowered at her; paw held high, ready to strike again.
Ginger nodded, holding her nose, mouth shut tight.
"As I was saying…" Boots continued, lowering his paw. "… I'm leaving you in charge. I know you are young, but you have to rise to the task. As I did. As Hattie did before I…" he paused, "You must look after them from now on, as they cannot look after themselves. You are their protector and ruler both. And they; your loyal subjects. As a ruler, their welfare is your responsibility. Do you understand?"
Ginger nods affirmatively.
"Good. Then it is time for me to go…" he pauses as he turns, looking at the birdcage, " … One more thing actually. Do make sure the prisoner is executed in my absence. It is my one worldly regret that that blasted creature remains alive."
The cage housed Edward, an insufferable lime-green and white cockatoo that Rachel had brought with her when she moved in. The thing had an attitude he couldn't abide, as well as a horrible, mocking laugh. He couldn't stand that bird, but more than that, he couldn't stand the cage that protected it from his wrath!
He had spent many an hour, over the years, swiping at Edward through the gaps in his cage. Watching as the blasted bird hopped just out of his reach, laughing at him the entire time. Just thinking about it made Boots's blood boil.
He stared hatefully at the cage, tail flicking.
"O-Of course, your.." Ginger starts before covering her nose reflexively. Glancing at Boots.
Boots sighs, his eyes softening, and presses his forehead against hers.
"Farewell Ginger"
"Farewell, your Highness." She said with a hint of sadness in her voice.
With that Boots turns and makes his way to the cat flap in the back door. He passes through without a backward glance and steps out onto the large balcony-garden.
He looked around at the dimly lit vegetation, taking in the small pocket of nature in the concrete jungle that was his kingdom.
He sat down beside the pond and peered at his reflection. Deep yellow eyes, set in an almost completely black face, stared back at him. Long whiskers protruded from his white nose. He was quite proud of his white patches on his belly and neck that were perfectly symmetrical, he also had little white patches on all four of his paws, that's what earned him the proud and noble name of Boots after all. On closer inspection though, he was starting to go a bit grey at the tips after all these years.
'A truly respectable old gentleman indeed!' he smiled to himself.
His eyes wandered past the pond and settled on the small headstone in the corner of the garden.
'Good to see you, your Highness' he chuckled to himself, giving a small bow. Then padding his way over.
He was starting to feel tired, so he curled up next to Hattie's headstone. He wanted to be near her. Gazing at the small assortment of daisies scattered at the foot of the stone, he thought about his time with her.
Boots had never known his birthmother, but that never bothered him. Hattie had raised him from a kit. She was the closest thing to a mother he'd ever known. The only one deserving of the title. She was more than he deserved, and he missed her, dearly.
The sun had started its slow ascent into the sky and a small sliver of light had cut between the towering structures, casting a thin ray onto Boots.
"Wait for me…
…Mum…
…I'm on my way." he smiled as his eyes slowly closed. Basking in the slight warmth of the morning sun. He felt death's gentle hand upon his shoulder.
It was time to go.
***
Boots opened his eyes. He was no longer in the garden. Bright white light seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions, there was no horizon, no features other than one small black lump about a hundred metres away. The lump appeared to have a desk in front of it. The lump actually appeared to be a black cat on closer inspection.
It seems this isn't the afterlife, after all.
'How inconvenient.' Boots grumbled to himself, turning away from the cat.
"Ahem" the black cat cleared its throat.
Boots shuts his eyes firmly, flicking his tail and feigning ignorance with a scowl.
"Oi!"
Boots tuned out the indignant yell. And tried to get some sleep.
