It was around that time that the number of Visiting Cats started to increase; word must have spread through the surrounding fields that food and water were available in The Cat’s Garden. Two of the first visitors who became regulars in the garden were Saturday, and the imaginatively-named Visitor Cat (well, it was still early on in the naming-every-cat-who-comes-to-eat list).

Saturday was an orange alpha-male gentleman. The Cat’s son Ana, having left the garden a while ago, had left a vacancy for an orange companion for his mother which Saturday was delighted to fill. He was one of the top alpha-males of the neighbourhood and just the sort of rough-on-the-outside-but-soft-in-the-centre sort of chap for whom The Cat could easily fall.

It would be an understatement to say that The Cat was less fond of Visitor Cat. Despite The Cat’s preference for simultaneously being as busy as possible while doing as little as possible, she was possessed of quite an amazing turn of speed which she used to full effect to chase Visitor (who rarely moved faster than a stroll) out of the garden. It was quite a sight to behold, especially as both females were heavily pregnant and not at their most lithe or nimble.

Visitor and The Cat were quite similar in appearance, and we would have wondered whether they were related, were it not for the rumour that The Cat had come to the garden from a different village to take up the vacant position of Chief Rodent Control Officer.

In any case, The Cat was training her humans, and Visitor was fed on top of the garden wall from then on, ensuring that her paws did not touch the hallowed earth of The Cat’s Garden.