Shoecat Thoocat

Shalini Srinivasan

Once upon a time, a traveller fell from the sky.

It landed on a field of tomatoes.
Kamala and her Thatha ran out. All their tomatoes were crushed, leaving only a shoe.

Kamala picked up the shoe. It put out a claw and scratched her. HISSSSS.
“Shoo cat!” Kamala yelled.
The shoecat yawned.

Kamala picked up the shoecat and took it to the goat shed. She gave it a bowl of milk. The shoecat sniffed it and spat in disgust. Thoo! Then it ate up all the goats’ grass.
After that, the shoecat went wherever Kamala went.

At school, it scratched Shamim Miss. “Shoo! Cat!” she yelled at it. The shoecat spat at her.
It scratched all Kamala’s classmates. Where the shoecat scratched, the wounds glowed green.

The shoecat scratched the newspaper man. It scratched seventeen goats, thirteen hens, three dogs, and one Thatha. It scratched everyone except Kamala, because it had already scratched her.
“Ow! Shoo cat!” they all yelled in Kannada and English, Tamil and Urdu and Telugu, Goatish and Doggo and Chickenam. The cat replied, “Thooo!”

The school put up a sign: NO CATS

The shop put up a sign, too: CATS NOT ALLOWED

Even the playground got a sign: CATS STAY OUT

Kamala and the shoecat went home, sadly.
They found Thatha putting up his own sign: CAT GO BACK

That night, Kamala and the shoecat climbed up to the roof to watch the skies. The moon glowed green and warm.
The shoecat turned its head up and yowled, “Owoooo!”

In the goat shed, seventeen goats turned their heads up and howled: Owoooo!
In his bedroom, Thatha sat up and put on his glasses. Sleepily, he said, “Owoo?”

Across the village, Kamala’s teacher, her classmates, the newspaper man, thirteen hens, and three dogs lifted their faces to the green moon and howled: “Owoooo!”
On the roof, Kamala bellowed:
“ OWOOO! ”

With a flash of lightning, it began to rain. The no-cat signs melted away.

Then the thunder started, BA-DUM DUM-DUM! Every piece of glass in the village broke. PUTT! went the light bulbs. Pop-POP went the pickle jars. Mirrors CRACKED and crumbled.
Windows slammed against walls and smashed glass flew everywhere, even on the roof.

Kamala hid under her bed.

The next morning, Kamala crawled out from under her bed. Thatha was sitting on the steps.
He was eating a furry green tomato.
“Wonderful! Thank your thoocat,” Thatha said. “What a good shoecat!”

In the field were lots of tall tomato plants, some medium-sized goats, and one short shoecat.

“Thoo!” said the shoecat, in a friendly way.
“Thoo!” Kamala agreed as she bit into a green tomato.