Hester and the Sams

Hester rises with the buzzing of the alarm and stretches long to wake up her muscles. Yawning, she busies herself to start the day. Nudging her human mama awake, licking kisses upon her nose and cheeks, she meows her reminder that it is time for the morning dish of cream.

As Hester’s human mama straightens up and puts on her flowery satin robe and lovely fuzzy pink slippers, Hester runs out the bedroom door and down the hallway toward her human brother Andy’s room. She pauses only long enough to mew at the triplet tuxedo kittens, Sam, Sam, and Sam, “No running in the hall.”

Entering her brother’s room, Hester quickly looks things over. She tsk-tsks at the white, long-haired siblings, Sam and Sam, for playing soccer with their brother’s pill bottles, who immediately left the room. Now, she could hear their mother walking down the hall to the little room with all the water.

Hester walks towards the bed, intending to jump upon it, when a large hairball skitters out! Jumping, she hisses ever so loudly when the orange tabbies, Sam and Sam, wiggle out from under their brother’s wig. Upset, Hester begins reprimanding her younger siblings when a wig topples off the dresser, followed closely by another. Looking up, she sees Sam, Sam, Sam, and Sam, the black cats, knocking the wigs off of their stands!

This could not go on! Hester could not stand for this type of disarray! Leaping up to the dresser, she marches over to her adopted furry siblings and demands they unhand the hair hats and wash up for breakfast this instant. The little black demons laugh at her and leap across to the bureau, knocking over the framed pictures as they do so. Hester was right on the adopted devils’ tails, and as she swatted their rumps, she saw the calico siblings, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, and Sam, shoot out from under the bed and down the hall.

Feeling defeated but refusing to give up, knowing without her persistence, no one in this family would stay on schedule, Hester springs across to her human brother Andy’s bed, landing upon his chest and forcing a loud “oof” from him. Andy opens his eyes and yawns ever so big. Seeing her, he smiles and says, “Well, good morning, my sweet Hester, is it time for your morning dish of cream? Well, now, com’n, my dove, we’ll go get you some.”

Jumping down from her brother's bed, she patiently waits for him to put on his orange and brown terrycloth robe and plain gray houseshoes. As he moves from his bed, out of the room to the hallway, she rubs herself across his shins, running through his legs, and goes on ahead of him to the kitchen.

Through the living room they go, where she stops long enough to tell Sam, Sam, and Sam, her adopted creamy-furred siblings, that it is time for their breakfast. She notices her gray brother, Sam, in the window, and she mews for him to follow along, too. Satisfied that the living room is clear, Hester continues to the kitchen.

Hester arrives in the kitchen just in time to see her human brother Andy opening the refrigerator door. Sitting on the floor in front of the refrigerator, impatiently waiting as they always do, were the yellow longed-hair siblings, Sam, Sam, and Sam. Deciding this morning was the morning that she would put them in their place, Hester quickly struts in between her human brother and her furry siblings and demands Andy’s undivided attention. He, of course, cannot resist her blue-blooded charms, as he removes the cream and some eggs from the refrigerator and places them on the counter, he turns and picks her up. He cuddles her for a moment before setting her down on the counter with her special dish of cream just for her. Sam and Sam, the gray tabbies, tap Andy on his leg, reminding him that they are still there, too. By the time human mama has come into the kitchen, all of the twenty-six furry siblings have been fed.

After the two humans had eaten, they split the leftover scrambled eggs between Hester and Sam and the triplets Sam, Sam, and Sam. Hester always looked forward to this yummy part of their breakfast and made sure to set an exemplary example by waiting patiently for her share. When her part of the delicious eggs were given to her, she always made sure to eat them as daintily as she could, for no one liked a cat that made a pig of themselves.

With the completion of breakfast, the clowder retires to the living room, and Hester once again reminds each of the Sams what their chores are for the day. She reminds Sam and Sam to play with the ball of yarn while Sam, Sam, and Sam, she mews that they need to lie on the windowsills. The triplet Sams, she tells them to climb atop the back of the couch while Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, and Sam all lounge about their usual perches atop the shelving. The rest of the Sams all find their favorite spots around the room, knowing soon human mother and brother will be in to sketch them.

Hester and the Sams spend a day happily pouncing around, enjoying the attention they obtain from their humans. The clutter takes turns lounging around in the sunbeams, pouncing the balls of yarn, and enjoying strokes from both of the humans. Littermates cuddle happily together in naps, while pouncemates gather in groups to help in cleansing.

Throughout it all, Hester watched as her humans sketched, drew, and wrote. Sitting regally, she posed, hoping to present her best side for the artwork. She knew how important it was to them that the entire cluster strike its best poses, so she, of course, knew she had to be the shining example among her siblings.

When the sun had left the living room windows, Hester knew it was time for everyone to have their evening meal. So, she crawls onto her human mama’s lap, leans forward, and gently nose kisses her, reminding her mama that it’s time to eat. Nuzzling her mother's cheek, Hester jumps to the floor, looks over her shoulder to make sure her mom follows, and heads to the kitchen to help oversee the preparations for supper.

Hester takes her regular perch on the counter, closest to the refrigerator and stove, so that she has the best view of the whole kitchen. As her human mother walks around the kitchen, Hester makes sure her other siblings stay off the counter while pushing measuring spoons and spice jars toward her mom’s mixing bowls. She knows she is a good girl and her mother’s favorite because her mother stops, and rubs her under her chin and behind the ears, telling her how pretty she is.

When supper is complete and everyone has eaten, the whole group retires back into the living room. Her human brother, Andy, kisses their mama, telling her he is going to step out for a bit, and that he will be in late. So it is up to Hester to entertain their mom and help keep all her adopted siblings in order.

From her place on her human mom’s lap, Hester calmly watches all the Sams' evening antics. Each Sam has a routine they go through before the evening is done. Most of the Sams lounge around cleansing themselves for the night. The triplets always play, until Hester decides it is time for their baths.

The black-furred Sams, those evil demons, cause all sorts of havoc every evening. Hester is keeping a close eye on those little black devils and it is a good thing, too. Noticing the foursome batting something furtively in the corner of the room, Hester leaps down and strolls over to see what it is. Those little hellions part guiltily away from what they were toying with, and a mouse shoots out from among their paws. Hester hisses her displeasure at the black-furred siblings, reminding them that their human mother did not like mice in the house. Then Hester proceeds to chase and scamper after the mouse, pouncing on top of it just as her mother screeches. Killing the mouse, she drops it to the floor and turns to glare at her ornery siblings, who try to look at her all angelic. She's just about to pick the rodent back up, to dispose of it, when her mama picks it up with a piece of paper and takes it to the trashcan, all the while telling Hester she's a good kitty.

As the night wears on, Hester takes the triplet Sams to their beds, making sure their ears and faces are clean. Once they settle down, she begins sending each Sam off to bed individually, checking to see if each one of the Sams has washed their ears and neck. The white long-haired Sams give Hester some backtalk, both wanting to stay up to stare out the windows a little longer.

All in all, the night is going well when the black siblings streak down the hall, knocking a table over. Now, human mama will have a mess to clean up! Before she could stop the furry demons, they ran into the kitchen, crashing into the cabinets, and came careening back out into the living room. Hester decides enough is enough, and pounces into the center of the demonic Sams, jumping atop the largest of the four and holding him down. Looking at the other three, Hester growls at them, telling them it is bedtime, not playtime. Then she proceeds to grab the Sam she has pinned in her powerful jaws, and drags him down the hallway to his and his brothers’ sleeping pillows. The other three devil Sam's meekly follow and crawl onto their pillows.

Her human mama picks Hester up and carries her to their room. Setting her onto the quilted bedspread, her mother begins the nightly ritual of preparing for bed. Hester sits on the bed, blinking at her mom contentedly, and purring loudly because she knows her human mama likes that. When her mom comes to the bed to pull the covers back, Hester begins kneading her spot, preparing her nighttime space.

As her mother lies down to go to sleep, Hester curls into a ball, facing the bedroom door. She can hear her mama start to snore, the nightly purrs of sleeping kitties, and the plumbing gurgling in the pipes. All is normal as she lies in wait for her human brother Andy to come home because she can’t fully rest until all her clowder is close by, exactly where she knows they should be.

She hears the clock in the living room strike twice and soon after, she hears the front doorknob rattling. Stretching, Hester gets up to check on her brother Andy and rubs on his legs in welcome. Meowing, she reminds him to go to bed before she goes back to her room to sleep.

a/n: As a young child growing up, I was taken to the Amon Carter Museum Of American Art both by my elementary school and also by my Gee. It was a place of happy memories for me, and I can remember looking at the artwork, wondering what the artist was thinking when they created their masterpiece. Sometimes, when we went with our class, our teacher would have us tell her what was happening in the painting, and we children would then let our imagination fly with the "what-ifs" of what could be happening in each scene inside every frame we saw. The stories children can come up with are wild.

After reading about Andy Warhol owning twenty-six cats, which he and his mother published a book about, I felt inspired to write about his cats. At first, I thought I would do some sort of poem, maybe prose or a 6W6Lextreme, but the more I wrote down, the more I decided I'd write this as a story from the blue pussy's point of view.

I hope you enjoy this little piece of fiction as much as I enjoyed writing it.