Josh the fence-fixing man has been to fix our fence (obviously, since he’s a fence-fixing man), after it blew over in high winds.

The reason why Family Next Door want a sturdy fence.

As he walked through our kitchen towards the patio doors, Josh commented on our ouija chopping board (a gift from one of Louis Catorze’s chat-sitteurs). Cat Daddy told him that we were into all manner of spooky stuff although, worryingly, he didn’t mention that it was a chopping board and just let Josh think it was an actual ouija board.

Naturellement, talk of spooky stuff comes hand in hand with talk of Catorze, so Cat Daddy mentioned that we had a black cat. Josh replied that he had a phobia of black cats, with a particular incident triggering this: a black cat once ran across the road when he was turning at a roundabout. Days later, at the same roundabout, the same thing happened again, only this time Josh crashed his car, resulting in severe, long-lasting and still-visible injuries.

OH. MON. DIEU.

It was then a race against time to find Catorze and shove him into a lead-lined underground vault, before he could enter stage left and make Josh either have a heart attack or do himself further physical damage whilst trying to run away. But the little sod was nowhere to be found.

I looked in every room, even under the beds, and I couldn’t find him. It’s a bit difficult to contain a potential threat when you don’t know where it is.

At a loss for what else to do, I went to the supermarket and left Cat Daddy to hold the Château. When I returned, expecting to see either the place in burning ruins or an ambulance parked outside for stricken Josh, the fence work had been completed, with no Catorzian interference whatsoever. In fact, nobody even knew where he was.

I bet THAT’S a plot twist that none of you were expecting. Be honest: you thought it would be all Armageddon and ambulances too, right?

Eventually I found Catorze under the guest room bed, in a cardboard box of Cat Daddy’s cycling clothes.

What happened? Could it be that Catorze picked up on the difference between annoying the merde out of someone who found him a bit creepy, as opposed to traumatising a genuinely scared, injured man, and was charitable enough to give Josh a break? Or is it more likely that his nocturnal gallivanting had gone on until late the previous night, causing him to sleep through the whole morning?

I’ll leave you to think about that one.

See? Doesn’t this look say “charitable”?
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28 responses to “Les deux côtés de la clôture”

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      This could have gone really, really bad.

      Like

  1. mmechapeau avatar
    mmechapeau

    A story which started with an Ouija board and a man who phobia of black cats wasn’t likely to end well. I felt relieved when reading Louis had behaved as a nice boy for whatever reason and against all odds.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      Not a nice boy, just an absent one!

      Like

    2. mmechapeau avatar
      mmechapeau

      … and all over the world, teachers like when annoying pupils are absent.
      🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. iamthesunking avatar
        iamthesunking

        Yes!

        Like

  2. Herman avatar
    Herman

    Your posts often seems to be episodes from the Black Mirror series… Scary stuff… very scary stuff indeed…

    Liked by 2 people

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      I know! We were both quite taken aback at how dark this was. Poor Josh.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. alicephilippa avatar
    alicephilippa

    I’m genuinely confused. Your house was supposed to burn down. Josh go to hospital and le Roi wander out of the flames completely unscathed.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      I know. We don’t get it, either.

      Like

      1. mmechapeau avatar
        mmechapeau

        You can ask the Ouija board. It is likely to know why.
        🙂

        Liked by 2 people

        1. iamthesunking avatar
          iamthesunking

          Noooo. I daren’t!

          Like

  4. Kate Crimmins avatar

    Poor Louis. He gets blamed for everything. Sweet thing was napping under a bed.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      He’s got to you, hasn’t he?

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Penny Cooper avatar
    Penny Cooper

    for sure he has no idea of poor Josh being there. I straightaway wondered if the black cat at the roundabout was physically there??? 😱

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      A ghost cat? 😱🐈‍⬛

      Like

      1. Penny Cooper avatar
        Penny Cooper

        That was my first thought! There’s a roundabout on a slip road off the London bound M20 into Ashford where I had a fright because there was a pitch black rabbit in the road nowhere near houses, I had to swerve into a middle lane meaning I missed my turning, drive round again and no sign of a rabbit!! Then it happened again a few weeks later, I drove up the road and left my car with hazards on, thinking how the hell am I going to save it without getting hit by speeding cars trying to get through the Amber 🚦, all I had was a dog towel but I figured I could throw it over it and bundle it up… Again no rabbit! I mentioned it to my daughter, she said ‘yeah there’s loads of rabbits on the roundabout and yeah the back one is wild and you’re so stupid, who goes walking around a busy roundabout junction for the motorway??’ … Yeah, that’ll be me, I’ve also run up a railway line to save an escaped rough collie from the kennels I lived by and got told off by a train driver, waited for him to continue the journey and turned back round to run after the dog, then Eurostar came blasting along and hit the dog, sent it about 20 feet spinning up in the air and then it dropped and disappeared down the embankment into the rough trees, bushes beside a field. I couldn’t see it so ran back the 1/4 of a mile down the train track, and through the kennels past my bungalow and out into the field beyond, yelling at my husband to grab a step ladder and follow me, which for once in his life he did as I asked. We looked a long way up the field through the chain fence trying to find the dog, I guessed it would be dead or suffering fatal injuries, so couldn’t leave it lost and in pain. Then under the thick cover of bushes and brambles I saw a glimpse of white leg fur and there he was, wound up like a ball in brambles. So over I went using the step ladder and found he was alive. Now this boy had got away from a volunteer dog walker because he went to bite the guy as he stupidly tried to slip the lead around his neck, this should have been done in the safety of his kennel so that he couldn’t get away, hence me belting up the train track trying to catch him. So I was a bit worried that he would savage me especially in pain with goodness knows what injuries and frightened silly after Eurostar coming along and throwing him up in the air like a tennis ball oh and of course he was a big dog with a very pointy snout so had the capability of really hurting me through a small space. Anyway I carefully unpicked the wickedly spikey brambles, and all the time telling him he was a good boy and I just wanted to make him feel better. He didn’t struggle or make a sound, which really made me scared that his back was broken. I accidentally scratched his skinny leg with a bramble and that was bleeding a bit. I got him out and even though he was a big dog, it was mainly his beautiful coat, so I was able to pick him up and pass him over the fence, then got the step ladder my side and was helped over, we collected the stp ladder and looked around and the dog was standing! Couldn’t believe our eyes, and he, dear Sam, walked all the way back to our bungalow, where I have him a nice drink of water and felt firmly all over him and he made no flinches, the brambles had broken his fall and wrapped him up so he couldn’t move, which gave him all the time since he’d been hit to calm down and accept what had happened. It had taken quite a time from me jogging back down the railway and then slowly walking up the field trying to find him so this time of quiet rest must have helped him so much. The only injury he had was where the bramble had nicked his skin on his leg as I was saving him. Makes me laugh and shed a tear for all the adventures in my life with animals, maybe that is a subject for me to write a story of the privileges that have come my way?? Oh and Sam found his forever home not long after, he was great with me, just a misunderstood boy who had done nothing wrong to end up as a rescue, his devastated owner had to give him up because his landlord changed his mind about allowing pets in his property, nothing changes really, this was in 1999!

        Liked by 1 person

        1. iamthesunking avatar
          iamthesunking

          What a story! My goodness!

          Like

          1. Penny Cooper avatar
            Penny Cooper

            I know! I have a picture of him the day after when I had him in my bungalow while my girls were at school, I’ll see if I can find it! Xxx

            Liked by 1 person

  6. mcmcneil1 avatar
    mcmcneil1

    We were afraid the story would end with Louis having disappeared, so we are glad all ended well for Josh, the fence, and LeRoi.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      You thought he’d have disappeared? As in, Josh took him home?

      Like

      1. mcmcneil1 avatar
        mcmcneil1

        no – something more supernatural…

        Liked by 1 person

        1. iamthesunking avatar
          iamthesunking

          Oh, I see! Yes, how stupid of me. Obviously Josh wasn’t going to take him home!

          Like

  7. cat9984 avatar

    If he’s anything like the cats here, he probably slept through the whole thing

    Liked by 1 person

    1. iamthesunking avatar
      iamthesunking

      It’s unlike him – he usually appears at moments when we don’t want him to – but it’s probably what happened!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. sevencatsandcounting avatar

        Or maybe le roi was the Cat who caused the original accident, so he figures his work is done.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. iamthesunking avatar
          iamthesunking

          OH MY GOD, I DID NOT THINK OF THAT!

          Liked by 2 people

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