Hello Children

Here is a short story about Dick’s cat who whilst appearing often in pantomimes seems to be missing from most histories on the subject

We all know that Dick was elected as the mayor of London on three occasions

But what of Pete his cat who visited Morocco with Dick and solved the rat problem in the country returning much rewarded to London Town

Was he erased from history for not using his cat litter or worse still for eating the Kings goldfinch

No the truth is much stranger

It is all to do with money and the lack of it

As I have noted Pete was well rewarded for killing all the rats in Morocco and it was this and his love for a time traveller named Viola Gresham that gave him the idea of building his own time machine

Well children you know that time machines do not come cheaply and soon Pete found himself in debt to some rather unpleasant money lenders from Barking

It was when he was threatened by a rather psychotic dog that Pete decided to make himself scarce and give his half built time machine a try

To say that the trip was a little troubled was something of an understatement as he landed in the prison cell of the mad poet Christopher Smart who soon took a great liking to him

Christopher said that Pete was a rather common name and decided to call him Jeoffry

Anything for the old loon thought the cat as he felt safe in the prison away from the rabid money lenders

It was warm

The food was good

And there was room for his time machine

But then Pete found out that the poet was writing lyrical poems about him and worse still some fool was publishing them

It was time for action as he begun to receive canine death threats from his friends in Barking

So he gave his decrepit time machine another try whilst Christopher was on some trip or another

And that is dear reader where we lose track of Pete

That said it was reported that he had been seen on the wastelands of Margate with a chap called Tom Eliot

Viola tells me that he spent the rest of the days there with his American friend

But when I pressed her for any other details she was vague

But this might be true as in 1958 the remains of a time machine were found on the low sands near Margate

Sadly the sea soon claimed the wreck before a salvage could take place

Locals who were around at the time have told me of a cat that once frequented the streets of the area

It is said that it changed its name to Stevens before vanishing once more

That I guess was the final sighting of the time travelling cat

Who knows where he is now

 

Merry Christmas All

 

Stuart