It's the time of year to gorge small children with sugar and make them pee their pants! Which also means it's time for Susanna Leaonard Hill's Halloweensie contest. The rules: your Halloween story must be 100 words or less and include the words black cat, cackle, and spooky.
Last year I wrote about the poor Jack O' Lantern who couldn't go trick or treating. This year I'm tackling the serious issue of feline bullying. This particular entry was inspired by a "Short & Sweet" Susanna also hosts monthly.
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| (image by jerca via sxc.hu, with edits) |
White Cat's Halloween
By Lauri C. Meyers, 2013
Violet's sad on Halloween.
Teasing black cats treat her mean:
"You can't even cause a fright
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| (image by orleil via sxc.hu) |
Wearing fur so milky white!"
Violet narrows bright green eyes,
"I can too cause children's cries!"
Arching back, extended claws
Loudly yowl- expect applause.
Black cats cackle, "What was that?
Sounded like a laughing rat!"
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| (image by giane via sxc.hu, with edits) |
Wilted tail and full of gloom,
Violet mounts her witch's broom.
Fading clouds, one moonlight ray
Makes white fur glow purple gray.
"What was that?" a youngster reels.
"Run! A ghost!" another squeals.
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| (images by annahe & mzacha via sxc.hu, with edits) |
Violet yowls her kooky mew,
"White cats can be spooky too!"
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68 Comments
This is great!
ReplyDeleteBut I would argue that a laughing rat can be a very scary thing indeed. When my rats laughed at me I knew they were up to something sinister.
This is wonderful! Great job, Lauri!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cheryl! I enjoyed yours too.
DeleteVery FUN! I'm glad that the white cat found her forte!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nancy. Sometimes the best thing you can be is yourself :)
DeletePerfecto, Lauri! I am glad to see a white cat enjoying Halloween too. Equality for all! :)
ReplyDeleteBlack cats do totally have the advantage of hiding in dark places and striking fear when crossing the street, but I've seen a few spooky white cats too. (thanks for your help!)
DeleteAwesome Lauri!
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking more carefully at white cats crossing my path, for sure.
Especially if one is cackling or glowing! Thanks Cathy.
DeletePurrrrr-fect Halloween poem! :0)
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna! I'm still shivering a bit from your story though :)
DeleteAll cats are scary to me! Love the white cat twist!
ReplyDeleteI think it's because they act like they are so smart all the time and look down their noses at you that you think maybe just maybe they now more about the universe than you. Or they are just planning to infiltrate your lap. Either way they are up to something!!
DeleteOoh! I entered a twilight zone the first time I tried to comment! All the comments were teeny and followed by huge pictures of you, Lauri, and the blog wouldn't let me comment. So I went away and came back and everything was normal... Twilight zone, I tell you! ANYWAY, loved your entry! Such a fun twist! And I'm glad the white cat found his spooky niche! Thanks so much for joining the Halloweensie fun! :)
ReplyDeleteOh great gobblygook! Even I would not want to be somewhere with giant Lauri heads floating around! I hope I wasn't attacked by blog pirates. I'll have to give them the old tick-tock.
DeleteThank you so much for hosting the Halloweensie fun!
Awesome job! What a fun entry. *high five*
ReplyDelete*High five. Fist bump. Fireworks!*
DeleteGreat little story and good rhyming--very hard to do! Enjoyed it, Lauri!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cathy! But I must have Halloween jitters (or didn't have enough coffee yet) because when I was visiting your site and that little worm on a hook dropped on to the screen, I slapped it! I'm not even scared on worms, but I guess things falling out of the sky are a weakness :)
DeleteI absolutely adore the fifth stanza. "Black cats cackle, "What was that? Sounded like a laughing rat!" It's just delightful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Heather! And you know the cats probably were creeped out by the yowl, but you know those bullies, they cover up all their fears by making fun of someone else. Big meanies!!
DeleteGood for white cat who used her 'weakness' as a strength.:) Great story, Lauri...lots of fun with great images!
ReplyDeleteYes she does. We all have to learn to do that sometimes. Though I wonder if she can also shoot laser beams out of her green eyes? I might need another 100 words to cover that...
DeleteCute story. I'm glad Violet showed those black cats she could scare the youngsters, too!
ReplyDeleteI think she could scare adults too, but it was hard to get the rhythm right for: "Was that a missile shooting through the air with a radioactive cat on it?"
DeleteVery fun! I loved the twist of using a white cat. I had one growing up, and they CAN be scary!! :)
ReplyDeleteOoh Janet, I hope you didn't have a yowler!
DeleteThat's cute! That cat in the pictures would scare me :-)
ReplyDeleteNice job!
Thanks, Penny! Isn't that yowling cat the best? Amazing what a great photographer can capture.
DeleteI was five all over again and running for home and my mother's arms!
ReplyDeleteYou know she's probably not going to believe that you saw a ghost. "It was probably just a glow-in-the-dark kitten, dear." :)
DeleteI so admire your rhyming capabilities!!! Love that the white cat got to be scary on Halloween. Those black cats deserved a little fright. :)
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, I should have had the cat scare the black cats not just some kids... but I guess that would have mean, and we wouldn't want our hero to be naughty :) The rhyme took many many tries - I hope I got it in the end!
DeleteWonderful! I love that Violet glows purple on Halloween (and I'm sure she turned those black cats green with envy!)
ReplyDeleteOoh, good one! Can I go back and work that pun in now??
DeleteLet's hear it for white cats. Yeah-great choice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanna! Yay, white cats - even when they look like Mr. Biggelsworth.
DeleteLoved this story -- and so glad that the white cat overcame the bullying black cats.
ReplyDeleteYou've got to root for a little white cat who thinks he has a spooky yowl!
DeleteLove the twist! Great job, Lauri!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely spooky! We have a neighborhood white cat that keeps trying to get in our house!
ReplyDeleteOkay, well that's spooky! Are you an exotic cheese collector? Or perhaps he noticed some mice sneak into your house now that the weather is cooling!
DeleteLovely!
ReplyDeleteIn the spot where she had been, black cats are not even seen!
Yeah, you're right!! Those scaredy black cats just hide in the dark. You have to be tough to be seen and be spooky!
DeleteGreat story, love the twist of Spooky White cat...why should black cats have all the fun.. :)
ReplyDeleteAgree, there's plenty of moon to meow at and plenty of kids ready to be scared. Sharing is Daring :)
DeleteI had two white cats growing up and I'm quite sure they would have thoroughly appreciated this story! Also, from one rhymer to another, it reads beautifully!
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle - that means a lot coming from you! All the cats I've read it too have sat politely through the whole thing :)
DeleteI think you're right, white cats can be scary, especially with those green eyes. As for laughing rats, almost as scary as spiders. Almost.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, spooky tale, Lauri!!
You just gave me the most terrible thought. If you had super human hearing, would you be able to hear some sort of horrifying sound that spiders make? Ewww, I'm sure it's dreadful.
DeleteLaura, great idea about the white cat on Halloween--no one ever thinks about them! I loved the line, "Sounded like a laughing rat!" Clever!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pam! There was a brief period where I considered having her turn the other cats into pumpkins with her magic eyes, but 100 words was just not enough. Oh, that and I didn't want her to be too cruel.:)
DeleteAw, that wilted tail got me.
ReplyDeletePoor wittle kitty witty with his little taily all said and wilted :( I'm so glad he got on the broomstick anyway and showed them his glow!
DeleteI love everything rhyme-y. This was cute. Thanks for sharing. I like it a lot.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jackie for stopping by. I enjoyed meeting you on your blog and your piece was magnificent!
DeleteI love this Lauri! Mine has a sort of similar theme. Great twist ending!
ReplyDeleteYes, Carrie - we both felt compelled to tackle cat bullying. Well, you know, October is Anti-Bullying month!
DeleteSpooky! Love it! We have a white cat and he can look and sound positively ghostly. The rhyme makes me jealous. (I want to rhyme so bad!)
ReplyDeleteWell, Robyn anyone can rhyme so bad! But rhyming well is like training to run a marathon. I must have said "that's probably good enough" 10 times before I finally fixed every line as best I could. I hope it turned out really good enough in the end.
DeleteIntegrating the topic of bullying into a Halloween story is difficult. Good job, Lauri!
ReplyDeletethanks Jarm!
DeleteNice job! I had first tried to write a poem for the Halloweensie contest, but it failed miserably. My ten-year-old loved how you showed that white cats can be scary too :)
ReplyDeleteYes! Give your ten-year-old a high five, because he's my target audience, and it sounds like he pretty much rocks :)
Deletehaha! That's wonderful Lauri. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Meg :D
DeleteGreat story in so few words AND the rhyme was wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThank you Patricia! Your blessing on my rhyme means a lot!
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