Mr and Mrs Noah's Flying Sid!

You may remember that Mr & Mrs Noah took in a little kitten that they called Sid! You know - the one that got her head stuck in her carrying-box on the way to the vet!

Well, having survived that ordeal, Sid made The Ark her home and settled down to lead a normal life … if only!

She started to grow up, and kept asking Mr & Mrs Noah (nicely, of course) if she could explore more of The Ark, other than just the living room and her very small sleeping box!

OK, well, she didn’t exactly ask nicely … she consulted with Mango, who explained that the best way to get Mr and Mrs Noah to do anything was to make a lot of noise and be persistent! So she took that advice onboard and started to howl and howl and howl and howl and howl … until she got Mr & Mrs Noah’s attention – just as Mango said she would!

So, she was let out into the rest of The Ark.

Big Mistake!

Everything went reasonably well until Sid discovered that The Ark had a mezzamime at each end of it, with a catwalk from one to the other. She discovered it had a thin wooden handrail along it - but it was a long, long way off the ground! Still, it had to be walked along, didn’t it? After all, it was a “cat”walk!

And so, Mr & Mrs Noah spent hours hovering under the handrail with a blanket stretched out between them - just waiting for the inevitable to happen – five month old kittens aren’t that co-ordinated, especially those called Sid!

In an effort to stop Sid becoming an ex-Sid they opened the front balcony door and allowed Sid out on to the balcony. This was much safer because there was Sid and Mango-proof netting all around it! Sid found this much more exciting than wandering around precariously on a wooden hand-rail that didn’t actually go anywhere in particular. There were all kinds of new sights and smells to discover … and the balcony went straight on to the garage roof and if you went under that netting you could have fun running around the roof!

And so it came to pass, one day when Mr & Mrs Noah were having a well-earnt cup of tea and biscuits on the balcony and enjoying a sunny wind-free day with their devoted animals by their sides (Mango, begging for food with those soulful eyes, and Sid proudly wandering around the balcony and her garage roof (the one place in The Ark that Mango couldn’t get to and therefore was truly hers)…

And then…

Suddenly, there was a dark shadow and an intruder was in her space! A “huge” black fly was making its way over the roof just over Sid’s head! How dare it come on to the roof! Her roof! She had better teach that fly some manners!

She tore after it with only one thought in her mind (which was just about her capacity anyway), fleet of foot, and twisting and turning in tune with the fly, like a world-class gymnast, gaining on the fly all the time. My, Mr & Mrs Noah were so proud of her – a “real” grown-up cat at last …

“Eeek! Sid’s just disappeared off the garage roof!” Mrs Noah screamed!

“What? Where?” exclaimed Mr Noah.

“Off the back! Her bottom…” (as you know, Sid doesn’t have a tail!) “just disappeared off the end!” exclaimed Mrs Noah.

“It’s a ten foot drop”, screamed Mr Noah!

Mango looked up just as Mr & Mrs Noah both shouted simultaneously …

“Sid, you can’t fly!”

Mango just smiled to herself and thought, “I wonder what they will do with all that cat food now… !“

Just in case all you Sid-lovers out there are concerned and worried about her – don’t be! She flew brilliantly!