Where are my fiendish foes!
It is a regrettable fact that almost every creature in the world, including cats, has an enemy or two. Mild mannered moggies have to contend with bullies and if one sticks up for one's rights it inevitably brings out the worst in some other creature.
Cat foes
And so it has been with Fredcat the Famous. As Fredcat himself recounts, "In the beginning my friend Forby was a true guardian and hence there were no foes to bother me. Later, when I had been taught by him the elements of attack and defense, he allowed me to venture into the wider world to take my rightful place in cat society."
"My first real experience of foes came when we moved to a house where nearby lived a most ferocious feline, shall we call him S-cat (or Scat for short) who had named himself the local king, emperor, gangster, mob boss or whatever. There was no hiding place. It was either fight or submit!"
Now most ginger toms have no idea of the concept of submission, having strong territorial beliefs, and I guess Fredcat the Famous was no exception to this rule. Unfortunately Scat was not only the boss and arrogant but was also quick-tempered and a mighty fine scrapper. Many a poor cat had suffered at Scat's hands through their being too hasty in trying to establish a little piece of what appeared to be unwanted territory - only to be disabused of that notion in short order.
This led Fredcat to decide that, although it was macho to "get stuck into" potential foes, a little self preservation was desirable if not essential in this world of "Go for it (or else)!!" (Author note - it was Fredcat himself who qualified the phrase with the inclusion of the "or else" strategy). This entailed a quick discussion with his mentor Forby.
After due reflection by Fredcat, compromise was reached, whereby both of the home-based cats would approach Scat and try to resolve their differences appropriately. Tactically this meant that both of our faithful friends would approach Scat from either side and try to mediate a solution. This did not appear to work very well and it became clear that Scat was in no mood to compromise, no matter how many opponents were around. This was his land and the newcomers had to be sorted out, and quickly returned from whence they came.
This thought turned out to be not a good idea as it happened. It was not completely clear what occurred next as Fredcat wisely kept a stiff upper lip over the next set of events. Suffice it to say that Fredcat next appeared quite unruffled having, as it were, sat out the final stage of the confrontation.
The animal doctor later said that Scat had had to convalesce for a while to enable his recovery from the savage mauling he had received. Forby was by nature a peaceable cat not given to bouts of aggression (unless provoked) but apparently his reflexes were like greased lightning, and his claws were almost razor sharp. Who will ever know cause and event here?
Fredcat learned a lot from this encounter but it was not enough to keep him completely out of trouble in the future. Later, after moving house, he found himself living next door to a very large, much younger, very aggressive ginger tom, Thomas by name. Thomas had an almost impenetrable ginger coat which made his defense relatively easy. His unbridled aggression more than matched Fredcat's.
It is probably true to say that Thomas' superior fighting ability won him most rounds and peace was only restored when Fredcat moved house once more. Fredcat did have one major success with Thomas however.
One day, not long after Forby had left, a new friendly cat arrived to stay with Fredcat. This was Charlie, black as night, and as unaggressive as it is possible for a cat to be. Charlie was the ultimate lap cat, initially raised in an cosy, warm apartment in Brixton but left to fend for himself later on in life. His motto was "See a lap, sit in lap - and sleep". Under no circumstances would there be fighting. Please, please, go away, go to sleep, end of story.
Anyway, one day this laid back chap had had enough of Thomas. Fredcat had clearly briefed Charlie on Thomas and had probably bribed Charlie with extra food or the offer of further comforts to be installed to Charlie's design. So Charlie bided his time ..... and when Thomas made one of his regular rounds, looking in on our two cowering cats, huddled together, cowed inside their house ..... But, no! What is this? Charlie dashed outside and leapt at Thomas, tearing him off a strip and leaving Thomas mightily upset and (it must be said) more than a little surprised. Thomas was, in fact, startled beyond belief. He leapt for the safety of the adjoining fence, chased off by an angry Charlie. Thomas didn't venture back into our heroes' ground for many a day. Oh the joy of revenge!
Hmmm, thinking about it, this seems have been the pattern of Fredcat's life, always getting someone else involved in dealing with his foes ... which is pretty smart, really.