My Early Years in Catuary

Growing Up

Mews, Dear Human,

It is high summer and the night is so beautiful. The moon is full, and I am restless tonight. It is so bright I can see for miles over the fields and orchards from my second story window. After sitting for a while and daydreaming I decided to climb out the window and go walk the labyrinth. Can one say that one is daydreaming if it is night? I guess you can, since I wasn’t sleeping.

Anyway, I put on a pair of black sweatpants and a black sweater, and climbed quietly down the tree outside my window to the ground. I am so lucky to live in Catuary. I know that it is perfectly safe to wander around at night, and I have often wandered through the fields in the summer time.

How can I describe the summer nights to you, dear Human. The breeze is soft and warm and cool at the same time. How can a breeze be warm and cool at the same moment? I don’t know, but I don’t know how else to describe it. The fields are filled with flowers that scent the night. I walk slowly and feel the cool dark earth beneath my paws. The moon plays little games with the shadows.

I finally arrive at the small temple, and opening the latch I let myself into the labyrinth patio. In the bright moonlight the labyrinth is beautiful. The black stones that define the course stand out in sharp contrast to the light grey stones of the pathway. I start at the entrance that is on the west side of the labyrinth and walk back and forth and round and round. As I walk I feel like I am walking on a high mountain in a field of Mimeenah flowers. Beside me runs a cool, sparkling stream. I dance about and want to race down the side of the mountain. Although I have never been there before, I feel the place is familiar. I am filled with a sense of joy and happiness and well being.

At last I reach the center of the labyrinth, and I stop and sit. I think about all of the things that have happened this year. I was such a kitten when the year began. But I have grown a lot. It has been a year of much happiness, and of great sorrow. I feel the events of this year have changed me and my friends for all time. Mewma and Pawpa tell me I am growing up.

I think about the Mookruh Festival and the Festival at the Great Temple in San Kata. I think about our Purrday Party, and about Primmy’s garden. And I think softly for a moment about my sweet little friend. How many things she will never see. She will never see this winter, and the new spring, and all the summers to come. I think for a moment about my friend Shazon.

I think of the days I have spent at the palace with the Princess. We have become such good friends. But we have become more than friends. She has taken on the task of teaching me to be a lady, and of teaching me the ways of the palace. I am surprised at how much I have learned.

I have also become good friends with my cousin Daenida, and with all of her brothers and sisters. Mews, Human, she has a really large family. But they are all wonderful, and rambunctious and full of energy. Mewma and Pawpa are glad that I have had such wonderful opportunities.

I have set here until it has grown cold, and I feel stiff. I feel cleansed after walking the labyrinth, and I am glad that I came here tonight. But now I am anxious to get back home. I stand and stretch, and hurry back along the way I came. Arriving home, I quickly climb back up the tree and into the window, which I close. Then I change, and snuggle down beneath the warm soft blankets on my bed. I am glad I am growing up, but I am glad I am still a kitten too.

Mim