“Lucy, come. We’ve got a Xmas date with Santa at the mall.” Lucy, a black and white tuxedo cat,
sighed. She could hear her owner, Jane, singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town. She sang it last year, too, and that song is scary. “He knows when you’ve been bad or good.” This Santa guy knows everything. How does he do that? Last year Santa said he hoped for a better report this Christmas. But Lucy was afraid it was going to be worse. As they waited in the line-up to see Santa, Jane smiled down on her and said, “Not to worry; just tell the truth.” That’s what had Lucy worried, the truth.
When they reached Santa, he patted his knee and said, “Jump up Lucy,” while Jane looked on
nearby. Lucy jumped up and sat quietly on Santa’s knee. She looked worried and Santa looked serious.
“Well, Lucy, how did you do this past year?”
Lucy looked down, and said, “I might have made a few mistakes.”
“Oh, and what would those be?”
“Do I have to tell you?”
“Yes, Lucy, you have to be honest with me.”
“How about if I start small,” Lucy said.
“Start wherever you want, Lucy,”
“I can open every cupboard in the condo. Under the sink, Jane stores pots and pans, and the one beside it has the garbage. That always smells interesting. And I like climbing into the shelves of the two towers on either side of the TV stand. I have to knock over Rosie the Riveter to make some space, but she doesn’t break. It’s hard getting those cupboard doors open. One of them opens on the other side from the other one. It took a lot of clawing for me to figure it out.”
“You’re a very smart cat, Lucy. But I wonder if Jane minds it when you root about in the cupboards?”
“Sometimes she yells at me to get out of the cupboards. She doesn’t want me to knock things over. ” Lucy thought, oh, no, so far my report is not too good, and I really wanted a new cat tunnel for Christmas.
Santa said, “Lucy, what else do you have to tell me?”
“Well, nothing too bad, really.” Lucy hoped for the best and said, “I like to jump up into the linen cupboard,
and have a little nap, especially when she’s just put away the clean laundry. I like the smell, so fresh. I also
like sleeping in the newspaper box and another good place for a snooze is the dirty laundry basket.”
“What does she think about you napping all over the house?”
“You know Santa, I think it’s alright with her. Except perhaps on the fresh laundry – she complains about my black fur. Oh, yes, and another thing. I like to nap with my head in one of her slippers and my paw in the other one during the day, so I can smell her lovely scent.”
“You mean the smell of her feet,” said Santa.
“Yes, they smell so good to me.”
“Ah, perhaps you could stick with the newspapers and the dirty laundry for your naps. And, of course, her slippers. Have you told me everything, Lucy – you’re a bit restless and your eyes look kind of shifty,” Santa said.
I think I’m talking too much. Lucy wondered if Santa would come at all if he hears what happened.
What will Santa think when he finds out I broke a prize rock in Jane’s rock collection? Maybe I can keep
quiet.
The cat looked away for a moment, and then came to a decision. “Oh, all right. I’ll talk; I’ll talk. You
know it all, anyway. I don’t know why I love to swipe things onto the floor, but I do. Last week I jumped
from the high tower into Jane’s rock collection, which is off limits. When I jumped, I accidentally bumped
into a coloured rock. It fell on the floor and broke into many pieces. Wow, was she upset. You’d think she
would thank me, because now she had a bunch of rocks instead of one large one. No such luck. I was in the doghouse for a while.”
Jane spoke up and said, “Yes, you were Lucy. That was a beautiful slab of rainbow fluorite and it was
my favorite rock.”
“Ah, now we’re getting to the real problem,” Santa said. “You know you’re not allowed in the rock
collection, but you jumped there anyway.”
Lucy hung her head, “I can’t resist it. Three shelves of rocks to knock over.”
“But Lucy, if you love Jane, why would you break a beautiful piece of rock?”
“I didn’t mean to break it. But watching the rocks fall is very exciting for me. I discovered I have the
power to move things. I also like knocking over the two pictures of other cats on her end table. They make a satisfying smacking sound as their faces slam into the glass.”
“Are you jealous of the other cats, Lucy?”
“No, I just like slamming the pictures down.”
“When you jumped up on my knee, Lucy, I wondered how much you would tell me. There’s been
some mischief again this year.” Santa frowned.
“Yup. But Santa. This year I only knocked down a few rocks and the things I knocked off the coffee table.
But I didn’t upend any flower vases or any full cups of coffee. I think I’ve improved, although there was that
coffee spill, on the new carpet.”
“How much coffee Lucy?”
“Only half a cup. Last year I knocked over a couple of them.”
“Hmmm. Is that everything?”
“Yes, Santa, that’s the whole truth.” Jane leaned over and patted Lucy on the head to reassure her she was still loved. Lucy looked up at Jane and purred.
“Little one, I know swiping things off the coffee tables and knocking things over is what cats do, and you have definitely shown an improvement from last year. I’m glad you have been honest with me. But Lucy, you know the rock collection is important to Jane.”
“Yes, I understand. She put a really big bowl on the tower between me and the rock shelves. Frankly, I don’t know if I can get at them again.”
“That’s probably a good thing. Well done on the improvements you’ve made. Santa might be dropping in on you and Jane. Since you’re sitting on my knee, what would you like for Christmas this year?”
Lucy’s eyes brightened and she purred. “Santa, I want a new cat tunnel. The old one broke.”
“Why did it break, Lucy?”
“I kept running through it back and forth as fast as I could and then springing out, and it just fell apart.”
“A new tunnel. That could be on your Christmas list,” Santa said. Lucy quivered all over with
excitement. “By the way, why was there a bite out of the cookie that Jane laid out last year?”
“Whoops. Oh, Santa, it was my favorite – oatmeal. I did leave most of it for you.”
Jane spoke up. “Lucy, I can leave out two cookies, one for you and one on a different plate for Santa.”
Santa said, “Lucy, you heard Jane. You may eat your own cookie, but try to leave mine alone. No bite marks and definitely no licking the oatmeal. Can you do that?”
“OK, Santa. I’ll try.”
“You and Jane have a very Merry Christmas, and Lucy – stay away from the rock collection.”
Lucy sighed with relief. She was pretty sure that Santa would be dropping in this Christmas. She purred for Santa and Jane, while she slowly crossed her paws and hoped for good luck in the coming year.
Jane smiled too and secretly crossed her own fingers behind her back.
