Tuxedo Tales
by
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Moss walking was one of the many things Pushka had taught me. It was simple and quite wonderful. You followed the deer path to the place where the dancing sound of the water is heard and sunlight does not visit willingly. The stones are always damp and the earth smells of many leaf years gone by. Mounds of green moss fingers, fearing being torn apart, grasp tightly to one another, stretching, clutching, and holding in the dampness upon which they thrive. They don’t mind the weight of a cat walking on them. Although it is an intrusion, pressing down pushes them closer to the stones. Their little heads spring back up and breathe the air again after the paws pass. They also don’t mind sand, dirt or even the powder from the collar that our paws may leave among them because with each dew, mist or rain, they are showered clean. Sometimes I moss walk in the warm dirt season just to feel their cool heads under my paws. If I slip into the stream, they laugh selfishly, gladly greeting the water from my recovered steps dampening their thirsty heads.
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About the Book
Retired from a career as a country barn cat, eighteen year old Tuxedo recalls her past adventures in delightful short tales from catching a thief to a garden rescue. Whimsical and clever, the cat's own stories are further enriched with those told to her by other animals she refers to as "four-leggeds". Descriptive details acquaint the reader with country life and nature and draw scenes of the shoeing of the horse, the fiesty squirrel in the pine boughs, the frolicking maple leaves in autumn, and the desperate cat in the frozen woodland. More deeply, the thoughts and emotions expressed by the simple "four-leggeds" draw laughter and perhaps a tear from young readers and adults alike.
About the Author
Recently retired from careers in health care and quality management in which writing involved everything from nurses notes, management proposals, evaluations and accreditation reports to coffee house menus and brochures for her own bed and breakfast, Martha now focuses on writing works of fiction. She is charmed by the wit and variety of personalities of the cats, dogs, and horses she has known as well as those of numerous barnyard and backyard visitors. In creating short stories that are told by various animals rather than a human voice, she has found an enjoyable challenge. Relating fun and adventure but also the sensitive and reflective side of nature's creatures, places her in a new career as a children's author. Martha resides in the midcoast of Maine with several "four-leggeds", including an eighteen year old cat, Tuxedo.