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Catham Junction

Hello everyone. Todays story is called Catham Junction. When a wild thing like Mervin meets a loveable, cuddly Persian called Molly who lives in the big white house on the top of the hill, a whole new era begins.

There is a railway line which runs from Caernarfon up into the hills, and beyond, to the mountains of Snowdonia. Usually Molly went by car to do the family shopping in town, but on this occasion the car was having a few repairs at the garage. Since it was such a beautiful sunny day Molly decided to catch the train into town for a change. She donned her best hat, ( The little blue one with a white feather perched neatly on one side), picked up her purse, and set off to wait for the train at the parking area on the edge of Mr. Williams' field. It wasn't a long walk, especially as the weather was so lovely, and she soon arrived at the dirt track leading to the train stop. The parking area was really no more than a gravel space which had been levelled off so that the train engineers could stop the train for necessary works, and local people could pop on board when they had missed the bus. Because the trainstop was in the country there were often quite a large number of cats sitting there waiting and watching, although not very many of them actually got on board to travel by rail. They just liked to watch trains pass much in the same way as people enjoy watching a steam train wend its way, tooting merrily upwards. For this reason the trainstop had become known as Catham Junction.

Well, Molly was rather surprised to find that there was only one other cat waiting at the stop. She knew his name , although she had not actually ever met him close to before. In fact she had heard rather a lot about him, and not much of it was good either! He nodded to Molly, saying as he did so in his scruffy , gruffy voice, " 'Morning Miss Molly. Lovely day to sit here and watch the trains". "Oh, I'm not going to sit and watch", replied Molly with her little perky nose slightly in the air, " I am taking the train into town". Her whiskers twitched delicately whilst she wrinkled her nose at the ghastly aroma of damp unwashed fur emanating from Mervin.She didn't like to be rude and suggest he ought to have a proper bath, but she did think it! "Perhaps you'd like me to treat you to some herbal bath salts while I am in town", she offered. "Now there's a thought", cheekily grinned Mervin. "Mayhaps you think I need a bath , eh"? Luckily the train arrived, at this precise moment, saving Molly from answering him. She climbed hastily aboard giving a slight wave of her gloved hand in Mervins direction just as the train pulled out of the layby. Mervin chuckled merrily at the thought of having a herbal bath. Why everyone knows that cats hate the water, and as for a herbal bath, well Mervin had only ever had one bath in the whole of his life! That was the day he'd fallen into the quarry pool where his mother, upon finding him there, had taken the opportunity to soap and water him until he positively itched with cleanliness. Not something he ever wanted to repeat again. Why he still had nightmares about soap bubbles to this day.

However, he continued sitting at the side of the railway line, with his mind far away thinking of the beautiful Molly. He knew she was in a class above him, what with her being a pedigree for a start, but her beauty was such that he just knew she'd never even give him a second look. He heaved a deep sigh, then promptly feel asleep curled up, leaning against a tree trunk, with the sun beating down on him with a blanket of gentle warmth.His little toes curled lazily with the rise and fall of his breathing.

I do hope you have enjoyed this story. It is available as an E-Book on my download page.

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