THE BLACK CAT
John
G. Sutton
During my search for stories about the psychic/paranormal
powers of animals I interviewed, via the internet, a lady in Russia who told me
of her encounter with a strange black cat:
In the tiny Russian village of Tochka, in the district of Rostovskaya there
lives an old lady who owns a mysterious black cat called Murzic. It was in the
summer of the year 1985 and Tamara Habarova was sitting in her front garden
watching the world go by when she saw a rough looking man walking along the
dusty road leading down to the nearby river Don. In his hand the man was
carrying a dirty sackcloth bag, Tamara watched closely as he approached and
noticed that whatever was in that bag was alive and kicking. "Hey Tovarich!"
she called to the man "What's in your bag?". Tamara has always been a
little outspoken and didn't think anything wrong in asking this total stranger
what he was up to. The man swung the filthy sack round and waved it at the old
lady. "It's a crazy cat that smashed all the plates in my house" he
said. "I'm off to the river to end his miserable life". Tamara was
deeply shocked, "You'll do no such thing you ruffian" she said.
"Give me the cat, I'll care for the poor thing" it was a mistake that
Tamara was later to regret.
The
stranger seemed quite pleased to get rid of his unwanted burden and passed the
cat, still inside its bag, to Tamara. "Give me a chance to get out of sight
before you let him go" he said "I don't want that little monster
following me home".
When
the scruffy looking man had disappeared back down the winding road leading out
of the village, Tamara opened the bag. There inside was the very blackest cat
she had ever seen in her whole life. It seemed to be pure jet, like a moonless
winter midnight in the nearby forest. The
cat’s eyes sparkled green and
mysteriously as it peered out from the top of the bag. "Come on then"
said Tamara "what's your name?". The black cat stared into her face
and made the weirdest sound 'Murrrzzzkk' it seemed to say. And so Tamara called
it Murzic.
Tamara's
husband Konstantin was pleased to welcome Murzic, he was a kindly man and loved
animals. All his life he had kept a small farm, just enough to support the
family, and he was very proud of his produce. The villagers of Tochka all came
to the house to buy eggs and butter, or swop their home made Vodka for these
healthy foods. Konstantin was sure that Murzic would help round the farm by
keeping down the mice that often sought shelter in the hen huts. He was wrong.
Within
days the black cat had created havoc, Murzic seemed to hate plates, cups,
crockery and anything else that could be broken. He jumped on the kitchen
table, pushed over the dishes, stole Konstantin's breakfast bacon and, worst
thing of all, attacked the chickens. There was feathers and hen muck everywhere
when the mad cat got into the huts. It was one misdeed too many. That very same
afternoon Tamara found the ragged old sack the cat came in, grabbed it by the
neck and shoved the beast back inside. "Get rid of it" she said to her
husband, "Row it across the river Don
and dump it on the other side". Despite feeling that Murzic half
deserved a worse fate Tamara could not bear the idea of having the cat killed.
Better to banish it to the other side of the river Don. From there it would
never return, the nearest bridge was over 250 kilometres away.
Later
that afternoon Konstatin slung the
bag with Murzic inside into his boat and rowed across the river. When he got to
the other side he untied the string fasting it and tipped the black cat out.
"Now get lost" he shouted to Murzic, then he jumped back into his
little boat and rowed home to Tamara and his ham and egg supper.
Over
the next few weeks Konstantin repaired all the damage Murzic had done in the hen
huts and Tamara bought new crockery to replace that which the black cat had
broken. Life had returned back to normal for the happy couple, then, one dark
night Tamara woke to hear a strange sound coming from outside the front door of
the house. It sounded horribly familiar, she listened closely; "Murrzzzkk!".
Could she be dreaming, was it a nightmare. Surely that wild cat could not have
returned. "Quick Konstantin!" she said "Go look, I think it's
Murzic'.
When
her husband opened the front door there he was, the cat looked ill. It's fur was
damp and lifeless, bones poked through his tatty looking once gleaming black
coat and it was obvious the poor thing had not eaten in days. Out of compassion
for the little creature Tamara poured some cream into a saucer and placed it on
the floor by the side of the now resting cat. With obvious effort Murzic licked
and lapped at the life giving food and Tamara is sure his green eyes sparkled,
as if the cat were saying thanks.
From
that day onwards Murzic was the best behaved cat in the whole of Rostovskaya
district. Never did he go near the hens and the new plates were untouched.
Murzic had learned his lesson, though how he had found his way from the other
side of the river Don was a total mystery. The journey was at least 500
kilometres over hard ground and he was starting out from a totally strange area.
It
was some years later that Tamara was to thank heaven for sending Murzic back to
her. In the late summer of the year 1991 Tamara heard a loud banging on her
front door. Thinking it might be Konstantin locked out she ran and opened it,
there she saw, to her absolute horror, a huge man with a black mask covering his
face. Tamara had heard that there were robbers at large in the district but
never dreamed they would just knock on her door. Frozen with terror she stared
into the wicked eyes of the thief. Despite her terror Tamara tried to close the
door but the big man pushed it back wide, then he began to move forwards.
Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Murzic the black cat jumped out and landed full on
the face of the robber. His sharp claws dug deep right through the mask into the
villain's flesh where they gouged out great chunks of skin. With a terrible
scream the robber threw his hands up and pulled the cat off his head, then he
turned and fled. As he ran down the dusty road out of the village Murzic chased
alongside, the rogue never returned. Tamara is certain that if Murzic had not
come to her help she would certainly have been robbed and perhaps even killed.
Hope
you enjoyed that strange tale of the mysterious black cat. You can read more
such stories in my book: 'Psychic Pets' John Sutton published by Bloomsbury
Children's Books.