THE TRUE STORY OF ALBERTO EINSTEIN THE MEXICAN CAT
Alberto Einstein is a cat who lives in a house and garden in a village in the
mountains in Mexico. Just like people, cats are pretty much the same all over
the world, wherever they live. He is called Alberto Einstein by Manoo
Feedzem, the person who looks after him and the other cats who all live in
Manoo’s house. You see, one of the cleverest people who ever lived was
called Albert Einstein and he invented lots of ideas about how the universe
works which hardly anyone can understand because they are so clever and
complicated. So, when this black Mexican cat was a small kitten and Manoo
saw that he was the cleverest kitten he had ever known, it was obvious that he
should be called Alberto Einstein.
Alberto Einstein is completely black and long and sleek and not at all tubby
like some cats are. In fact he looks like a small panther. He lives in the house
and garden in the village in the mountains in Mexico with his relatives - his
granny, Mumsy (black), his mum, Buddly (because she’s cuddly and tortoise shell)
his sister Little Missy (black and white) and his uncles, aunts and cousins although
no-one can quite remember how everyone is related anymore. There is
Benedicto (Siamese) and Mrs. Ziggy (tabby and white) and Big Softy (black)
and Henrietta Twist (white and Siamese mixture). Manoo feeds all of them
twice every day in the morning and evening, although they also like to eat insects,
especially Alberto Einstein whose favourite insect to eat is a spider.
There are lots and lots ofspiders in Mexico and in the evenings
Alberto Einstein climbs up on a deskand reaches up the wall as far as
he can to catch the spiders.
When he was a tiny kitten Alberto Einstein would lie on his back on Manoo’s
knee and have his tummy tickled. Now that he is big he likes to have his
tummy stroked but only when he is asleep and all stretched out on the sofa.
Sometimes, when Manoo picks him up when he doesn’t want to be picked up,
Alberto Einstein makes a noise which sounds just like he is saying “Oooooooh
noooooo”. So Manoo puts him down again. Alberto Einstein is very happy
living in the house and garden in the mountains in Mexico where, apart from
sleeping, there are always lots of interesting things to do like chasing
butterflies bigger than your hand, which is a naughty thing to do, but Alberto
Einstein can’t help it because he’s a cat and that’s the kind of game that cats
play. Like all cats Alberto Einstein loves to sleep. Sometimes he sleeps on a
shelf in the storeroom on top of the spare bedding. He also likes to sleep on
the desk and he especially likes to cuddle up on the sofa with his best friend.
His best friend is his sister, Little Missy, who is black and white. She is a small
cat but always sticks up for herself and won’t let any of the other cats bully her.
She often plays by herself, chasing a rolled up ball of silver paper all around
the house. She would be a very good footballer. Little Missy sleeps on the sofa
where Alberto Einstein comes and cuddles up with her. Sometimes they give
each other a licky wash as well. They also like to wrestle with each other
underneath the desk. They make a lot of noise but they never hurt each other.
When Manoo sits on the sofa Little Missy sits on the back behind his head and
gives his hair a licky washy. But when Alberto Einstein does it he bites
Manoo’s hair instead of licking it. Then when Alberto Einstein jumps onto
Manoo’s lap to be stroked, Manoo says a poem that he made up. He says -
On the kneesy nice and easy
Sit right down and have a squeezy
The naughtiest of all the cats who live in the house and garden in the village in
the mountains in Mexico is Benedicto. Because he is a Siamese cat he is a
beige colour with a very dark brown velvety face and bright blue eyes like a
precious stone called sapphire. All of his paws and the bottom parts of his legs
are also velvety dark brown which makes him look as if he is wearing gloves
and socks. When Benedicto was a tiny kitten he was very poorly and Felipe the
vet in the village in the mountains in Mexico had to give him an injection. While
he was poorly he slept in Manoo’s bed with the covers tucked up under his
chin. He looked just like a Teddy Bear. He had a sister called Miss World and a
brother called Walter but they went to live with some other people in another
house and garden in the village in the mountains in Mexico. Benedicto grew
up to be big and strong and likes to chase the other cats to show just how big
and strong he is. But he also likes to be stroked and tickled and every night,
when Manoo is lying in bed reading a book before he goes to sleep, Benedicto
jumps on him purring to be stroked. Siamese cats like a lot of attention when
they feel like it. But because Alberto Einstein is clever he always makes sure
that he can see when Benedicto is close by and sits high up on the desk or the
kitchen table or hides under the sofa so that Benedicto can’t chase him.
Although he is clever, sometimes Alberto Einstein is a bit too brave which gets
him into trouble when he is out exploring and having adventures. One day he
came back into Manoo’s house soaking wet from head to foot with very dirty
water. Manoo thought that he must have fallen into a dirty pond while he was
trying to catch something. Manoo tried to dry him with a towel but Alberto
Einstein said “Oooooo noooo” so he left him alone. It took Alberto Einstein
hours to lick himself clean and dry and he didn’t go out of the house again
all that night.
Alberto Einstein’s biggest adventure was when Manoo took him to the vet’s to
have an injection to help keep away the germs that make you feel poorly.
Manoo picked him up and put him in a nice blue cat box. But a cat box isn’t
very big and is like a cage with a door that locks tight shut. Alberto Einstein
didn’t like it one bit because he is used to being free and running off to
wherever he wants to have an adventure on is own. So he immediately started
to say “Oooooo nooooo” and he said it even more when Manoo picked up the
box with Alberto Einstein inside and started to carry it by the handle at the top.
Manoo Carried Alberto Einstein in the box out through the garden gate and
down the lane to the street. Manoo carried Alberto Einstein in the box along
the street to the main road which leads to the village in the mountains in
Mexico. When the bus came along Manoo climbed on board along with
Alberto Einstein in the cat box.
Manoo paid for his ticket but Alberto Einstein in the cat box travelled for free.
Alberto Einstein didn’t like being on the bus at all and cried out even louder
“Ooooooo nooooo” and all the Mexican people on the bus turned around to
see who was saying such a thing. They were all very surprised to hear the
sound coming out of a cat box and all the Mexican people laughed when they
realised that it was Alberto Einstein who sounded as if he was talking. After
only five minutes the bus arrived in the village in the mountains in Mexico and
Manoo got off, with Alberto Einstein in the cat box, at the end of the street
where Felipe the vet has his shop and clinic. There are two vets who work
together in the village in the mountains in Mexico, Felipe and Miguel. Felipe
wasn’t there this time but Miguel, who has a little moustache and beard, was.
Manoo and Miguel said “Hello, how are you” and all the things that people say
when they meet each other.
All this time, because he is a clever cat, Alberto Einstein knew that what was
happening was very unusual and he was now very scared. Manoo could see
how scared he was and thought that he had better take Alberto Einstein out of
the cat box himself and hold him while Miguel gave him the injection. Manoo
took Alberto Einstein out of the cat box and held onto him on the counter of the
shop. But Alberto Einstein was so scared that he bit into the top of Manoo’s
little finger very, very hard. Manoo shouted out loud because the bite hurt him
so much and he had to let go of Alberto Einstein who jumped off the counter,
ran into the street, straight up a telegraph pole, onto a roof and out of sight.
This time it was Manoo’s turn to say “Ooooooo noooooo” because he thought
that Alberto Einstein had run so far away that he would get lost somewhere in
the village in the mountains in Mexico and that he would never see him again.
Manoo felt very sad when he thought about this and didn’t know what he was
going to do.
But Miguel had been to see what had happened to Alberto Einstein and just
then he came back and said that he had seen him on a rooftop not far away.
Miguel took Manoo to the end of the street and around the corner. They went
through a shop and into a yard behind the shop. Manoo could hear “Oooooo
noooo” and so he knew that Alberto Einstein was there on the roof. The people
in the shop gave Manoo a ladder and when he climbed up it he could see
Alberto Einstein at the far corner of the roof. Manoo called out to him but
Alberto Einstein was too scared to come towards him. Then Alberto Einstein
ran and hid in a small gap where one roof joined another. Manoo went back
down the ladder and then climbed back up again, this time taking the cat box
with him. He crawled along the roof, trying not to break any of the red tiles that
there are on Mexican roofs. Very slowly and very carefully he made his way to
where Alberto Einstein was hiding. He went slowly so that he wouldn’t make
Alberto Einstein any more scared than he already was and carefully so that he
wouldn’t tread on the tiles and break them. Alberto Einstein watched Manoo
coming towards him and decided that he had had enough of this particular
adventure and let Manoo pick him up and put him into the cat box. At that
moment no-one in the village in the mountains in Mexico could have been
happier that Manoo now that Alberto Einstein was safe and sound again.
Manoo climbed back down the ladder and went back out through the shop
and around the corner back to the vet’s where Miguel was able to give Alberto
Einstein his injection while he was still in the box. Manoo and Alberto Einstein
took the bus back down the main road, went along the street, down the lane,
through the garden gate and were back home in no time. Manoo let Alberto
Einstein out of the cat box and Alberto Einstein ran around, happy as anything
to be back home in the house and garden in the mountains in Mexico. That
night he cuddled up on the sofa with Little Missy and they gave each other a
good licky wash.
