The Bouncing Cat

Apart from his devotion to Sandy, Lennon was actually a fairly ordinary cat, except for one thing. Where most cats would run or pad gently up a set of stairs, Lennon would bounce. It was as if his legs were partly made of springs. Sandy had uncarpeted wooden stairs in her house, so she would hear him, bouncing from step to step. It made a very distinctive noise, too, a repetitive boing boing boing ...from stair to stair.

Sometimes Sandy would lie in bed and listen to Lennon playing and bouncing, up and down.

Sandy was very attached to Lennon, and he was with her for almost fifteen years. She was devastated when he became very ill. She had to put him to sleep. Afterwards, for the first time in many years, she came home to an empty house. There was no Lennon to rub up against her legs and welcome her in. She lay on the couch, crying and remembering her friend.

She must have fallen asleep there, because suddenly she found herself wide awake, in the dark. She listened. There was a noise out in the hall. No, it was on the stairs. She heard something on the steps, going up and down. Bouncing. Just like Lennon used to do, boing boing boing ...up and down the stairs.

She sat and listened for a few minutes and then she got up, slowly and quietly. She walked toward the stairs, listening to that familiar sound, which grew louder as she came closer. She rounded the corner to the stairs and flicked on the light.

Just then, the noise stopped. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the brightness, but she could see that there was nothing there. And yet, she had heard it, right in front of her, on the stairs.

Sandy didn't know what to think, but she had a very strange feeling. She walked upstairs, got ready for bed, and lay down. Soon after she turned out the light, the sound started again, boing boing boing ...just like Lennon, going up and down the stairs.

She got out of bed again, after listening for a little while. She took her flashlight. Sandy stood at the top of the stairs, listening. But the same thing happened when she turned on the flashlight, shining it here and there on the stairs. The noise halted abruptly, and there was nothing to be seen.

Sandy returned to bed. When the bouncing started up again, she didn't pursue the sound, but just lay there, listening and remembering. She began to feel some comfort from the presence of Lennon. Soon, she drifted off to sleep.

The noise continued over the next few nights. As soon as she turned out the light and lay down, she would hear that sound out on the stairs, just as she had for so many years.

Sandy became accustomed to the noise, and didn't try to explain it further. She was content with the notion that it was Lennon, coming back to comfort her. Indeed, she did feel less sad when she heard that reassuring sound out on the stairs.

About two weeks after Lennon had died, Sandy's best human friend, Julia, knocked on her door. She had a cardboard box, which she handed to Sandy. Inside it was a little black-and-white kitten. It was for Sandy.

That night, as Sandy lay in bed, she heard the kitten roaming and leaping through the house. She felt the kitten lie beside her on the bed, kneading the covers. But she didn't hear any sound of bouncing out on the stairs.

Indeed, from that night on, she never heard Lennon again.