Minnie [#Wattys2017]

My Name is Minnie

My Name is Minnie

The grey tabby cat that sat on the rafters in the barn was new. He licked his paws, cleaning himself and pretended on to notice the girl that was carefully balancing, walking one foot in front of the other, across one of the ceiling beams toward the cat... Her light brownish-blonde hair was braided about her head like a halo. She bit her lip as she tip toed closer.

"Da's goin' to kill ya Min! You're dirty already!" cried Robbie, the younger of the two brothers, staring up from below.

"If Ma don't do it first," agreed Malcolm.

The cat paused in licking it's paw to look down at the two boys shouting, and his tail flicked uneasily.

"Shut it, the both of you," Minerva hissed, "You're scaring him."

"What're you goin' ter do even if you get to it?" asked Malcolm, "T'isn't as though Da's going to let you keep another cat! Says you've got too many already, you ninny."

"Ninny Minny," giggled Robbie, clapping.

The cat's tail flicked again.

Minerva glared down at her little brothers and slowly lowered herself to duck beneath another beam, holding onto the one under her feet as she slid her feet along. Her little dress boots were slippery at the bottom and she nearly misplaced herself, catching on at the last moment with white-gloved hands.

Malcolm saw the slip. "Goin' to ruddy kill yerself, you are!" he cried.

The cat lazily stretched, extending his claws as he rolled his spine and tail.

"Hullo little Puddy," Minerva whispered, coming up behind the cat as carefully as she could. "Hullo. My name is Minnie." She lifted one hand from the beam and bit the fingers of her white glove, pulling it off and letting it fall from her mouth, fluttering to the hay stacks below. Robbie ran for it, plucking it up and flapping it about as though it were waving of it's own accord.

Malcolm scowled. "You know we're leaving for church in just a mo'?"

Minerva ignored him altogether (sometimes it was easier not to notice anything over-cautious Malcolm said... thought... or did...), and she reached out her now bare hand at the cat. "Dear little Puddy, Minnie isn't going to hurt'cha. Come live with me inside and I'll give you a saucer of milk all of your own that none of the other puddies can share." Her fingers stroked the cat's fur and she smiled, inched just a wee bit closer... and that's when her little boot slipped. Right off the beam and her weight shifted with it and she fell over, headed for the ground, turning dangerously so that she was certain to fall upon her neck and probably die and Minnie shrieked as she went and Robbie cried and the cat leaped away onto another beam as the girl fell... Malcolm covered his head with his hands, squeezing his eyes shut...

There was no crash, no thump, no cry of pain or shriek of death, and when Malcolm opened his eyes it was to find that Minnie had landed quitely on her feet and Robbie was staring, quite astonished.

"How in the devil's name'd you do that, Min?" Malcolm asked.

"Dunno," Minerva replied, looking just as confused as Malcolm sounded. "I s'pose I just did."

"You aren't supposed to use the magic, Min," hissed Robbie in a quietly conspiratorial tone, "Ma says you aren't supposed to use the magic!"

"I reckon this would be one of those exception things that she spoke about, though," Minerva said smartly. "I mean, magic is preferable over me breaking open my head, don't you think?"