Page 6 - and the man who loved cats

Splash, splash. Was he getting any closer to the
drowning girl?

"Oh Mummy, it hurts."
"Come here, let Mummy kiss it better."
It was strange: he looked up again to check his
bearings one minute and the next he was upon
her. It was as if she had transported herself to
him.
He hurriedly grabbed at her, but was arrested
by a number of things. He was aware of none of
them in particular: he was half-aware of them all.
The summation of them was his arrest, an arrest
that quickly twisted into confusion.
In that moment he saw her smile. It was a
beautiful smile. It was a smile that said welcome.
There was confidence in her grey eyes. She had
put rather too much kohl around them. But her
beauty carried off this clumsiness. It added an
exotic interest to her. Of course she was pale –
curiously white. Indeed, there was a bluish hue to
her skin. It was her calmness that shocked him.
There was no stress. But his shock was short-lived
for her welcoming smile stole him. He did not
question her. He forgot the image of her near the

Page 6