Shelby and Captain Tiddles

Shelby had a cat. To everyone else he was just an ordinary cat but to Shelby he was special. He was soft and silky and when he played beneath the warm sunshine his fur gleamed like the colour of freshly opened conkers. He was loving, gentle and smart and Shelby adored him.

But what was so special about him, you may ask? Because aren’t all pets special in their owners’ eyes?

Well, Shelby’s cat was quite different from other cats, for when he was fed his favourite cat food he became Captain Tiddles, a cat with super-feline powers. Captain Tiddles could fly faster than a rocket going into space. Captain Tiddles could juggle an elephant, a donkey, a lion and three chimpanzees whilst climbing up the tallest mountain. Captain Tiddles could run around the world backwards in sixty seconds without getting out of breath. Captain Tiddles wasn’t just special, he was amazing.

Now one day, just after he had eaten a large helping of Cat's Whiskers, he heard with his super-feline hearing the crying of a little girl. Captain Tiddles soared into the air to grab the girl’s kite, which had been snatched from her hand by a huge gust of wind.

No sooner than he had handed the kite back to the girl he saw with his super-feline eyesight a young boy in a sticky situation. Captain Tiddles landed with a soft thud and pulled the boy to safety just as his older sister was hurling a jam sandwich at him.

Then in the distance he heard the sounds of a sad little dog that had tried to chase a squirrel up a tree and was now hopelessly lost in the woods. Captain Tiddles came to the rescue once again and led the dog back to the welcoming arms of his owner.

It wasn’t long before his help was needed again. He saw an old lady who was heading for trouble. Captain Tiddles landed with a soft thud but his super-feline powers were fading. He tried to grab the abandoned shopping trolley that she had somehow fallen into but it was too late and off she whizzed down the hill. When she got to the bottom all you could hear was the sound of the old lady laughing her head off.

So with his super-feline powers slowly disappearing Captain Tiddles started to walk home. It was very late when he finally arrived there and all he wanted to do was curl up on the bottom of Shelby’s bed for a well-deserved sleep. He jumped onto the bed, yawned and slowly drifted into the world of golden slumber.