Miranda the Great (5 page)

Punka looked at her mother beseechingly. "Wah?" she asked. "When do I eat? And what?"

Miranda suddenly realized that she was very hungry, too. Before she could rest and sleep, she must find food for her and for Punka. She started on a tour of the quiet Colosseum. Suddenly a look of delight spread over her bright little face. She began to drool. She smelled cooked or cooking meat.

Although Miranda felt faint at the mere smell of food, she resolutely concentrated on the succulent smells and made her way toward them. Thus, holding her nose high in the air and sniffing delicately all the time, she came upon food, cooked food, meat smoldering still from the great fire whose flames had licked within the very walls of part of the Colosseum on that terrible day of the sacking of Rome. And this great fire had cooked the meat that was supposed to be for the beasts, the lion for one, held in captivity and awaiting their turn in the arena.

The meat was cooked to a T. It was not too black and not too rare, just right.

"Woe-woe!" said Miranda happily. "
Io!
" She smelled this piece and that daintily, for she was a fastidious, non-greedy cat. Then she broke off a piece of crisp, juicy roast pork. She could not help but purr. How good! She sampled other meats and ate contentedly and did not hurry. Although she was accustomed to having Claudia cut her meat up for her into tiny bits, still she managed to break off pieces that she could manage, and she ate them with manners and gentle purrs. She had resolved that come what may, the kittens and cats that she was going to rear in the Colosseum were going to have gentle manners and were not to be servile and crude like those of the Roman Forum.

When Miranda had eaten enough and was now strong enough for whatever might happen next, she broke off a nice juicy piece for Punka and hurried back home with it.

"Wah!" said Punka, almost swallowing the tidbit whole. More than once Miranda had to caution her to eat more slowly and prettily.

Suddenly Miranda realized that she and Punka were being watched. Three large full-grown cats, visitor cats, had arrived and were crouching at the gate. Miranda hissed. The visitors did not say, "The same to you." They raised their noses to the air and sniffed. They smiled when they smelled what it was that Punka had just eaten. They stood up and waited.

Miranda narrowed her eyes and studied the visitors. She stopped midway up the scale of her song of warning because—what luck! These three lady cats calling on her in the Colosseum were mothers.

"Ladies," said Miranda, "how good of you to call. You are welcome here because you have some milk. I will give you meat, and you must give the little ones some milk. That is fair. And you may stay here in this big house that belongs to me, Miranda, to Punka, my daughter, and to the thirty-three. Come in," she said and purred.

The three big cats came slowly in and warily watched lest there be a trap of some sort. The thirty-three kittens raised their heads and said "mew-mew," for they recognized mothers.

One mother went right up to little sooty-paws and gave him some milk. It was probably her own son. "Now," said Miranda. "You must be hungry. Follow your noses. You will find juicy drippings all the way to guide you. And Punka," she said to her daughter, "suppose you lead the way since you are the hostess." This Punka did.

When Punka and the three big cats returned, each of them had a sweet, juicy morsel for the kittens. Since most of the kittens had only baby teeth, the big cats tenderized the meat in their own mouths before dropping it into the little pink mouths of the babies. The big cats smiled as they watched the tiny ones climbing over each other to get a taste of this new food and scrunching their eyes tightly in order to savor it thoroughly. What a day it had been for the kittens! First a drop of lion's milk and now roast meat! "Not many kittens have such an opportunity," thought Miranda proudly.

Then everyone, filled with delicious food and feeling safe and sound, went to sleep. Miranda slept, too, but with one eye slightly open, guarding all, as always. In the middle of the night Miranda had her new little kittens, and there were four. When Punka saw them, she was astonished. "More kittens?" she said.

But Miranda was very proud and purred. "Yes," she said. "Your little brothers and sisters."

"Wah!" said Punka.

Miranda's only regret was that the kittens had not been born soon enough to have had a drop of lion's milk. "Still," she thought, "things are going along nicely, very nicely indeed."

A growl from outside the arcade interrupted this peaceful reverie.

"Oof!"

Miranda stole down the arcade to the entrance. There were sixteen dogs out there, and perhaps they were the same sixteen she had chased off her street after the blizzard. Well, they would have to go. They would never get into her Colosseum. She had not rescued thirty-three kittens (with Punka's help, of course), chased away a lion, and had four more in fire and smoke and sacking only to stand aside for dogs. "No, they will have to go," she thought as she watched the dogs. They were having some sort of restless consultation with their leader, a gaunt gray dog.

The only dog that Miranda liked was Zag. She really loved Zag. But she knew where Zag was. Gone with Hamilcar Barca and the family to the villa, lying at her master's feet, no doubt, asleep and snoring. Well, those days were over for Miranda.

The dogs had not yet seen Miranda where she lay crouching and awaiting the right moment to attack. Suddenly she gave a terrible and awful "woe-woe," all the way up the scale and all the way down. It echoed through the arcade and aroused the sleeping cats. Punka and the three mother cats came musically, sidewise on stiff legs, and took up their position behind Miranda. The kittens, left behind, said, "Mew, mew." The lizard cat from Barcelona with the broken tail appeared from somewhere, and that made six big cats. However, Miranda could have done all the chasing away herself, and the other cats watched her in awe as round and round in front of the dogs she circled, singing her song of warning and rejection.

But these dogs were famished. They had smelled the meat, and they were loath to depart. Miranda had to charge the great gaunt leader dog, and she had to scratch him. At the same moment, though she had not been instructed to do this—she just had the idea herself—Punka performed her perpendicular leap. She landed on gaunt dog's back, hissed in his ear, jumped off, and he fled howling, followed by the others. Punka retired to the shadows, trembling with terror at the idea of her courageous act, and her mother said, "
Io!
"

Miranda watched the dogs dashing down the street and disappearing around the circular corner of the Colosseum, all of them, that is, except one.

One dog stayed. This dog did not flee, and this dog would not go. She flattened herself down on the ground, like a great big floppy mop, and she would not go.

Miranda settled herself down in front of the dog that would not go and studied her. Then she said gently, "Who are you, doggie? Are you Zag? Zaggie?"

The big dog sighed. "Uh-huh-huh-huh-hum." She was covered with grime and soot and ashes. There was mud in her big shaggy paws and floppy ears.

"I know you," said Miranda again. "You are Zag."

The dog gave a slow, tentative wag of her tail.

"I know that you are Zaggie. In disguise," said Miranda, her eyes narrow and thoughtful. How Zag had got here, instead of being safe and sound with the family, was of no interest to Miranda, and she was not astonished. Always practical, Miranda rarely looked back on the past. Instead, she dealt with each moment and what it might bring with deft realism. "You can't fool me," she said. "You are Zag."

One day last summer Marcus had had to shave off all of Zag's beautiful fur because of the heat and fleas. Even so, Miranda had recognized Zag. Punka hadn't. She had hissed at the strange-looking naked dog.

"Now, Punka," Miranda had chided her daughter. "This is Zag, our dog, Zag," and she had gone up to Zag and kissed her gently on the nose, for she could see how ashamed Zag was of her appearance and how unwilling she was to come out of the corner. She did the same thing now. She went up to Zag, who was still shaking and trembling, and she touched her nose to Zag's three times, kissing her.

Zag gave her tail another wag, and the little tuft at its end swept the ground. Then she lowered her head to Miranda, who began to wash her face. "Urr-rum," sobbed Zag, not minding the attention at all, not giving one slightest little annoyed groan. Then Zag put her great shaggy head between her huge tangled paws, lay down, and gave a profound sigh of relief.

Now Punka came sidling out of the arcade, looking for her mother. There her mother was, washing the face of some dog. Just as Punka had not recognized Zag last summer when she had been shaved, so now she did not recognize her again beneath her matted fur. "Hiss!" she said.

Miranda gave Punka a cross slap. "Don't you recognize this dog ever? Your own dog? It's Zag. Dear good roll-over dog, Zaggie. Zaggie, old Zaggie, old Zaggie, old Zag."

Ashamed of herself, Punka cautiously approached Zag and smelled her. Zag spoke crossly to her, for she had never liked Punka as much as Miranda. Punka recognized the tone. "I knew it was Zag all along," she said. She was jealous and she tried, as she always had, to get between the two.

But her mother said, "Go back and mind the kittens."

"How unfair," thought Punka. But she went. Still, she wished she were back in their other real right first home, lying in the garden there, for the sight of Zag brought back those happy long-ago days. They seemed long ago, though they had ended so suddenly only yesterday. Consider those days! Sleep, sleep on the floor or sleep in the garden, and listen as in a dream to the loving words of members of the family. "Oh, isn't she beautiful! Look at that stomach! Silver, pure silver!" Not move a muscle when someone, even big Marcus, came clomping in his huge sandals. Let him or anyone step over her, and they did.

Consider her life now! "Mind the kittens! Mind the lion that she doesn't eat you! Chase away dogs! Don't let broke-tail lizard cat on our side of the arena. Do as I say!" That was Punka's lot now. "Pshewoo!" Disgusted, Punka went back to the kittens and did not leap for them even when they said please.