Mrs Ben had rose-apple cheeks, she was plump and she lived alone.
Well, that is, she did up until this morning, for this morning she was going to get a kitten!
Her son, who was grown up and lived a short ride away, was bringing Mrs Ben her kitten.
"I think I heard Adam's car", said Mrs Ben, and rushed to the front door.
"Hello Mother", said Adam as she opened the door, "you look excited today, I have got you a kitten and he is quite special."
"Ooh show me!", cried Mrs Ben twisting her apron between her fingers, her face even more rosy than usual, "Show me, Adam."
Adam gave his mother a quick kiss on her warm cheek and placed a box on her lap. Mrs Ben could hardly contain herself. She lifted the lid, and looking up at her was a beautiful white kitten with brown smudges on its nose, paws and the tip of its tail.
"Mother," said Adam, "this is a Siamese kitten."
Mrs Ben had already picked up the kitten and was very pleased with her son for getting it.
"We must find a suitable name for him," said Adam, "as it is a boy."
"Oh you little darling!", cried Mrs Ben.
The kitten, sensing that he was loved, proceeded to play. He had violet-blue eyes and was very lively.
"I shall call him Horace," said Mrs Ben, "after your father's name."
"Horace," cried Adam, "Mother, do you think that is a good name for a kitten?."
"Horace it is! Why he looks like a Horace," said Mrs Ben very determined, "Oh Adam thank you, I do love him."
"Oh well, Horace it is then" said Adam.
Picking the kitten up, he said, "Horace, meet Mrs Ben, my mother."
"Meow, meow." mewed Horace, struggling to get down.
Once on the floor Horace pounced on Mrs Ben's foot and started to play with her shoe laces. When she laughed and bent down to pat Horace on the head, his little back went up and he acted as if Mrs Ben was his enemy. He started backing away, his violet eyes quite mad looking, then like a little horse he went for Mrs Ben sideways.
"Ha ha!", laughed Mrs Ben and Adam.
"Well Mother, do you think you will be happy with your little bundle of naughtiness?", said Adam as he bent and scooped little Horace up.
"After all he will be quite a handful you know."
"Dear me", laughed Mrs Ben, "of course I will be able to handle him." and taking Horace from Adam she snuggled her rosy but very happy face into his little body.
"We shall have lots of good times together Horace, shan't we?"
Little Horace being only a baby kitten was already settling down in Mrs Ben's arms.
"Oh yes, I daresay he will get up to a lot of adventures before he is very much older!"
"Well," said Adam, "you do have a lovely garden for him to explore and it is a rather large garden at that, I must be off now mother, take care of yourself and Horace. Bye now."
Adam gave Mrs Ben a kiss on her cheek and left. She heard his car roar off down the drive and then silence.
Looking down lovingly at Horace who was fast asleep she said "Well little one, tomorrow will be a big day. I must go down to the village and get you a basket and a collar" and with that she put Horace down onto a big soft armchair and went off into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea and of course a bowl of milk for Horace.
No sooner had Mrs Ben made herself a small pot of tea, and put onto the shining kitchen floor a bowl of milk when she heard a mewing. "Now then Horace, drink up your milk, and here is a dish of chicken scraps left over from my dinner last night."
Horace ignored the milk for a moment and set about eating the chicken. "You poor mite", said Mrs Ben, "why you are really hungry, aren't you?" Only when all the scraps were eaten up did Horace drink his milk.
"I have a piece of paper here Horace", said Mrs Ben, "it tells me all about you. I must put it somewhere safe."
"My word!", said Mrs Ben, "you are ten weeks old, and very sturdy for such a little fellow."
All Horace wanted to do was to give himself a good wash. After that he settled down on Mrs Ben's lap. She could feel him purring as she put on her glasses and picked up her book from a little table by her side. When later Mrs Ben went up to bed you could bet that Horace would sleep on her lovely soft bed cover.
"You know, I shouldn't let you sleep on my bed", said Mrs. Ben, "but I don't think I shall bother about that. After all, there is only you and I who will be living here."
In the morning, Mrs Ben found a puddle by her kitchen door. "Oh dear", she said, "It is my fault Horace. I should have put down a box with some sand in it. I must sort that out today as well."
Meanwhile, Horace wanted to play. Everywhere Mrs Ben went, so he would jump straight up into the air like a spring.
Mrs Ben laughed. "I am going to make myself some porridge now", she said, "and it is such a lovely morning that I will open the kitchen door."
"Now Horace", said Mrs Ben, "out you go, and don't wander too far. I shall keep my eye on you, and later when I go down to the village for my shopping you will have to come in."
But Horace wasn't listening. Out he scampered, only to stop dead in his tracks. Some leaves were being blown along the back path. Horace's back went into an arch, then feeling very brave he pounced, only to find he had no need to be scared. He chased a butterfly, jumping up and down trying to catch it, but the butterfly just kept out of his way.
After playing for some time, Horace heard the sound of running water. With back up and fur all bristling, and feeling not at all brave, he edged his way to what looked to him like a small river going up in the air and then back down again, but he was brave, because he moved right up to the edge.
There was a brick wall all the way round the water's edge. Horace, still with his back up, hopped up into the air landing on the edge of the wall. Moving in the water were lots of fish. Horace no longer felt scared, instead he felt excited. He sat on the narrow wall, and watched fascinated as fish with big eyes swam past him.
A huge fish appeared right under Horace's head and he jumped in fright, almost falling off the wall, but the fish just stared at him with large eyes, and what looked like a funny mouth opening and closing all the time.
Not understanding why the fish just stared at him made Horace feel quite cross and wanting to show how brave he really was, his little paw shot out, thinking to scare the big fish away, but the shock of the cold water on his paw made Horace jump off the wall in fright, then feeling brave again, he hopped onto the wall once more to see where the big fish was.
Fish were still swimming by slowly, but Horace could not see the big one, so he set about washing the offending paw that was wet. Then he heard Mrs Ben calling his name, and after a bit of scampering around, he saw her.
"There you are", she said, "and have you had a nice time, out here in the garden ?" She gave Horace a big kiss on his cold nose. "I have to go to the village now, my pet", she said, "so please behave yourself!"
Horace jumped up onto a huge, soft settee, gave Mrs Ben a meow, and set about giving himself a good wash before having a sleep. After all he was only a baby. He felt very happy.
Mrs Ben made sure everything was all right, gave Horace an extra cuddle, then went off to the village. Horace curled up and went fast asleep to dream about a pond, and lots of fish darting about in the water.
The End!