We have just had builders in, fortifying the battlements at Le Château.
As you know, Louis Catorze LOVES tradesmen – builders, gardeners, locksmiths, anyone, really – and one of his favourite things to do is annoy them and make their work last for longer. On the morning that the builders arrived he was in especially high spirits, bouncing around and screaming. But, as soon as they started work, he disappeared.
It’s not uncommon for Catorze to vanish during the day, especially when it’s summer and there is gadding about to be done in the Zone Libre. But, when his food remained uneaten from the morning – he’d screamed and screamed for it, circling my feet like a hungry shark, then walked away the minute I served it – I started to wonder where he was. It even occurred to me that he might have crept into the builders’ van. But, although they’ve been here before and are used to peculiar Catorzian ways, I was too embarrassed to ask them to check.
At around 3pm, the little sod reappeared in the living room, screaming indignantly, which I took to be annoyance at the drilling and stomping (even though it has never bothered him before). I then found out that he’d been accidentally trapped in the guest bedroom the whole time. He’d shot out, screaming, when Cat Daddy went to put something in laundry basket. And he may well have been screaming for some time, but we wouldn’t have heard him over the builders’ noise.
Poor Catorze then needed an emergency session of Boys’ Club to recover – not because of the builders’ presence, but because he was cruelly kept away from them. It must have been like having a really good bottle of wine but no bottle-opener.
Would it be weird to invite the builders to Le next Club?
louiscatorze.com 
Leave a comment