Bathing Beauty (2000) Post 176
Bathing Beauty is about Nick and Rosa, who agree to mind their neighbour Mrs Teo's cat while she'd away. It's an easy enough job; all they have to do is to feed Beauty, clean her litter tree and make sure she's shut in the house. The two are feeling smug until the day of Mrs Teo's return, when everything goes a bit pear-shaped.
Bathing Beauty is about Nick and Rosa, who agree to mind their neighbour Mrs Teo's cat while she'd away. It's an easy enough job; all they have to do is to feed Beauty, clean her litter tree and make sure she's shut in the house. The two are feeling smug until the day of Mrs Teo's return, when everything goes a bit pear-shaped.
This story, written under my Patrick Farrell pen name, employs a knowing narrator who points out that a plot point wouldn't be mentioned if it wasn't important and that if everything went well there would be no story.
Mum sends a jar of fresh jam for Mrs Teo. Naturally, Nick unscrews it to sniff the sweet scent. Naturally Beauty trips him up. Naturally the jam goes all over Beauty. The children try to wipe her clean and then have a go at bathing her, with predictable results. Beauty runs away and hides.
The kids clear up as well as they can and try to find the cat but Mrs Teo returns. Of course Beauty reappears right away... nice and clean, having taken care of the problem in her own feline fashion.
Yes, I did once try to wash a cat. It wasn't easy.
Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. If you enjoyed a post, or want to ask about any of my books or my manuscript assessment service, leave me a message.
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