Lighter Fare
Each evening I would find the ladder moved—and a book or two from the shelf displaced. Kant and Thoreau, Marx and Neruda; I would find them open on the floor, on the desk… by the cat bowl.
Naturally I became concerned, so I left work early and drove home, determined to catch the intruder in the act.
I entered quietly and climbed the stairs. Hearing a noise in the den, I prepared to pounce.
My gray tabby, Gary, met me with mild surprise, crouched by a first edition Dostoevsky.
“Got anything lighter, buddy?” he asked. “This stuff is murder.”
I scratched my head on this Friday Fictioneers prompt for a little while, and finally came up with this 100 worder. A bit lighter than my usual stuff, as the title so cleverly suggests, but hey, it’s the weekend, right?
Happy Friday!
pinionpost 
I was expecting a ghost, but what is a bookstore without a cat! Those are my favorite kinds of bookstores. I liked your take on this! Perhaps, kitty would like pictures of cats.
Haha, that should do the trick! I grew up with cats and sometimes they’d knock things off the shelves and I always wondered if they were trying to find something to read.
Great final line
Wonderful! The ending is great! Cats are so smart–but mine never did speak to me in English. (Too smart for that, I guess…)
Yep, I think they’re cleverly taciturn, just to keep us guessing what’s on their minds. Glad you liked it!
Lovely! There’s no accounting for the preferences of cats.
Right? Personally I like Dostoevsky, but the Russians aren’t for everyone I guess… 🙂
Dear Brian,
Lighter fare indeed. This one had me laughing out loud.
shalom,
Rochelle
funny enjoyed this 🙂
Lovely wee story, cheers!
Freakin’ fantastic! Sounds a lot like my cat.
[…] such a nice day out and it’s almost the weekend, I thought I’d take a lighter approach (guess I’m just in that mood this week). The prompt was simple enough: Use at least one compound modifier and write a 33 word […]
That was fun to read as one of my first after being out of town and off the computer for most of a couple of days.
janet
Welcome back Janet! Glad you liked it
Wonderful, whimsical! What a fun turn. Imaginative use of the prompt, one I didn’t see coming.
This was great. I guessed it was the cat from the clue you planted, which then made me feel smug! Much enjoyed.
That’s always my favorite part of finding foreshadowing when I’m reading! I know exactly what you mean haha. Thanks for reading
Never underestimate the feline intellect, just its sense of order 🙂 Love it
Good one!!!
That’s a pretty determined cat. I would have given up long before. Actually, I would have skipped the others and gone to Dostoevsky. 🙂
I love this one! I assume Gary was reading Crime and Punishment 🙂
Are you familiar with the cartoon Sp0ngebob Squarepants? He has a pet snail named Gary who meows. That is exactly what came to mind when i read this!
hehehe