A talking cat and a forgotten manuscript? Can I do this? yes, indeed I can. This is my Friday flash fiction thanks to a list (or two) from Chuck Wendig’s blog.

Tambako the Jaguar / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)

So…here goes:

The Talking Cat and the Forgotten Manuscript

by Kim Smith

“Why are you sitting out here under the tree?” the talking cat asked.
“To get perspective,” answered the forgotten manuscript.
“How can you do that, lying half in the sun with the spring breeze riffling your pages?” The talking cat stretched lazily and rubbed against the metal folding chair where the manuscript rested.
“The sun and the wind helps me in this endeavor. The sun illuminates my blocked mind and the wind blows bad ideas away.”
“But what good are you without the writer who fills your pages with ideas?” asked the cat, now licking a paw.
This question made the manuscript rest thoughtfully and think about the answer. The writer had left him out in the chair, tossed aside like he had been the problem rather than the solution. There could be no accounting for the vagaries of a writer.
The talking cat circled the chair waiting for the manuscript to answer. The sun beat down hotly and the chair’s metal began to heat up.
“I am a part of the writer, only she hasn’t figured it out yet. She’ll cool off from the heat outside and think about things. She’ll be back soon.” The manuscript felt a little smug as he said this to the cat. The writer had done this same act many times. It was just now the earliest part of spring and the writer hadn’t had time to sit outside very much.
“So, will you work together to create a great work, or will you just be there, waiting, a blank page, staring at her like she’s the one who’s been wronging you?”
“I don’t feel wronged. I feel abandoned.” The manuscript flipped a page’s edge, exasperated. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“Oh, but you did. You said it.” The talking cat slinked down the hedges, hissing over his shoulder at the manuscript. “Now you have to live it.”