Are you ready to meditate with Cori?
Make sure that you're all comfortable and warm in your bed so that you can relax your body and let go of your busy,
Busy day.
It was an early evening on a really nice day and Heidi,
Cherry and Veya had gone out for a walk after dinner.
They were heading towards their local park just to play for a while,
Go on the slide in the swings and the roundabout,
Maybe see some friends there.
When they got to the park there was one cat sat on the roundabout.
It was a scruffy looking cat.
The cat looked like he'd not had a bath for a very long time.
And if you can imagine,
The cat looked that dirty that it had fleas and flies hovering all around it.
That kind of dirty.
The cats walked into the park and at first Heidi,
Cherry and Veya got on the swings and didn't say anything to the cat.
But then after a while Cherry was too intrigued and also she wanted to see if she could make friends with this new cat.
Because you know Cherry,
Cherry makes friends with everyone.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veya all walked over to the roundabout.
The cat looked miles away as if he'd been going round and round and round for too long.
He looked a little bit drunk.
He was a bit wobbly and his eyes were just staring off into space.
Cherry coughed to see if she could break his attention.
She didn't want to scare the cat walking up when he wasn't noticing and wasn't paying attention.
And the cough worked because the cat stared at Heidi,
Cherry and Veya as if it only just woke up to the fact that someone else was there in the park.
Cherry said,
Erm,
Hi there.
Well hello.
Yeah,
So my name is Cherry and I was just wondering like what you doing here on your own?
And erm,
Do you want to make friends?
Because we could be a friend.
And yeah,
So do you mind if we get on this roundabout with you?
The cat just nodded and then he said,
Yeah,
That's fine.
That's fine.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veya got on the roundabout.
Cherry carried on talking.
So tell me all about yourself.
What you doing here?
Do you like to come to the park?
Normally some of our friends are here at the park,
But today no one else is here but you.
And like,
You know,
We were just wondering who you were and like if you wanted to be friends.
She said it again,
Hoping that the cat would feel like they were being friendly.
In the meantime,
Heidi said hello and so did Veya.
The cat said,
Okay,
Yeah,
That sounds cool.
Cherry said,
What's your name?
The cat with the flies and the fleas and the dirty,
Dirty fur looked at Cherry and said,
Milo.
Cherry said,
Well,
Since you're now our friend and everything and you're cool with it,
Then I have to ask you a question,
Milo.
Why do you look so dirty?
You look like you've never had a bath.
Heidi elbowed Cherry in the ribs.
Cherry said,
Ow,
Really loud.
Ow!
Veya said,
Um,
So,
So,
Yeah,
Sorry about my sister.
She's kind of like that.
She can,
She can be a little bit direct sometimes.
She doesn't mean anything by it.
Veya then went on to say,
I'm sure it's none of our business about the state of your fur.
And,
Um,
Yeah,
So tell me something about yourself,
Milo.
What do you like to do?
Milo didn't seem to be bothered by Cherry at all.
In fact,
Milo looked quite streetwise,
Like he'd met a lot of cats in his time.
And Cherry's directness that could come off as being a bit rude,
Didn't seem to bother Milo at all.
Milo said,
Well,
You know,
I actually live on the streets.
I have done for about two years now.
So I roam around and I like to check out different places in the city.
There's a lot of friendly people there.
And I have like certain shop owners and certain houses I go to where they happily feed me every time they see me.
So I don't really go hungry or anything.
One good thing about the streets is you're totally free to do whatever you want.
Cherry said,
You don't have to go home at a certain time.
We always have to go home at a certain time.
Otherwise,
My mum gets really worried.
Milo said,
Well,
I don't really have a mum and I don't have a dad and I don't have a home.
So no.
No,
I don't have a curfew.
I kind of come and go as I like.
Cherry said,
OMG Milo,
That's so dangerous and cool.
Heidi said,
Oh,
OK,
Well,
That sounds that sounds nice.
What else do you do Milo?
Milo said,
Sometimes I like to go down to the beach.
I like the beach,
Especially when it's nice and warm and there's lots of people there because there's a lot of kids and I really like kids.
I like to watch them play in the sand and play in the ocean and they have showers there.
That's good because sometimes I can take a shower.
It gets a bit dirty living on the street,
You know,
Because you end up like sleeping on the ground or by the side of the road or sometimes I sleep in the woods.
Sometimes,
Some of the houses that feed me,
I get to stay in their house all night and that's really nice.
And then if I'm lucky,
Sometimes they give me a bath.
But I must say,
I'm not really into the bath thing.
It's OK once in a while,
But,
You know,
I don't really stay that clean for that long.
So I don't see the point.
OMG,
Milo,
I know exactly what you mean.
I really don't like bath time.
Oh gosh,
It gets on my nerves so much.
I mean,
I do like to smell nice and clean and everything and that's nice.
But,
You know,
The whole like having to get wet.
Oh gosh,
Unless I'm surfing or I'm in the ocean or I'm like purposefully wanting to get wet,
Like when you play in the rain or something,
That's always nice.
Milo said,
Oh yeah,
Yeah,
I like that too.
I like to play in the rain.
The rain does end up being a really good shower.
Cherry said,
Yeah,
Exactly.
Who needs shampoo and warm water?
Faye said,
Oh,
Oh,
I don't like that.
I'd much rather have a shower.
And I really do like the shampoo part.
It makes me feel really nice and clean.
Milo said,
Well,
Like I said,
I don't really tend to stay clean.
Cherry just went straight in there.
Milo,
Tell me what's the most dangerous thing on the streets?
Milo thought about it for a second and then he said,
Cars.
Dogs.
Maybe coyotes.
Cherry said,
OMG Milo,
That's so scary.
You mean you like,
You like,
You like could possibly get eaten by a coyote?
Milo said,
Well,
It kind of depends on where I sleep at night and where I stay.
You have to be careful,
You know.
So yeah,
Yeah,
I could,
Especially if I was in like a field or maybe like,
You know,
In the woods or the forest sometimes.
But living on the streets,
You kind of figure out where the coyotes are and where you can go that's safe.
So it's not too bad.
Probably cars are the worst.
You just have to watch out for cars.
But you do have to cross the street a lot.
So I mean,
It's part of the deal.
You have to get used to just being really careful.
You can't just walk on the street or walk on the road and expect no cars to hit you,
You know.
There was one time where I just barely missed getting run over by a car.
And from then on,
I've learned to be really careful.
Cherry said,
Oh gosh,
It's like talking to James Bond or something.
You're so cool Milo.
So many stories.
I bet you've got so many stories to tell us.
You'll have to tell us all about it.
Tell us everything.
Cherry moved closer so she could hear him clearer.
Tell me about like the worst,
Worst thunderstorm you've ever been in.
Heidi and Veya settled down and they stayed there on the roundabout going round and round and round for the longest time listening to Milo's stories.
Anyway,
It was time to go home.
Cherry asked Milo if he wanted to come and hang out with them at their house.
Milo said,
Oh yeah,
Yeah,
That'd be nice.
So Milo went home with Heidi,
Cherry and Veya.
They went in through the cat door.
They went upstairs,
Showed them around the room.
Milo was quite hungry,
So they gave him a meal.
Then they played cards together.
And then eventually everyone got really tired.
Heidi,
Cherry and Veya brushed their teeth.
Milo chose to pass.
For one,
He didn't have a toothbrush.
And for two,
He wasn't really into that.
But then they all settled down on their cat bed.
And they fell to sleep.
The next morning,
Milo said thank you and he had places to go.
He said he'd probably see them again at the park.
And they said their goodbyes for now.
After he had breakfast,
Of course.
Later that day,
Cherry kept scratching behind her ears.
And so did Heidi.
And unfortunately,
So did Veya.
They were scratching and scratching and scratching all day long.
OMG,
Said Cherry.
I think we might have got fleas off Milo.
Oh,
Poor Milo.
If this is how Milo feels all the time when he's itching and scratching.
Oh,
Poor guy.
Heidi said,
Oh,
I need to get that book that I have down.
I have a book that tells you all about what you do when you have fleas.
Heidi disappeared to go find the book.
Veya said,
Oh,
This is just,
Oh,
Me thinks this is the worst thing I've ever felt.
Oh,
I feel so gross.
Oh,
I just can't stop scratching.
I could not possibly wear any of my nice dresses with fleas.
I would be worried that the fleas would lay eggs and live on my nice dresses.
And then every time I wear my nice dresses,
I'd get fleas all over again.
Oh,
This is just a nightmare,
Cherry said.
I think I'm going to have to tell mum.
I'm going to have to go downstairs and tell mum that we've all got fleas.
She's going to kill me.
She's going to say,
How did you get fleas?
And I'm going to say,
Oh,
Well,
You know,
We met this friend.
He's so nice.
He's called Milo,
But he lives on the street.
He's like James Bond,
Mum.
And then I'm going to have to explain to her that he was really dirty.
And then I'm going to have to explain to her that,
Unbeknown to us,
He had fleas.
Because,
I mean,
Well,
It were pretty obvious that he probably did have fleas.
But you know,
Who's to judge?
I don't want Milo to think that we didn't want him in our bed just because he lives on the street and he was absolutely filthy.
That would have been awful,
Wouldn't it?
Anyway,
I think I'm just going to have to go and tell mum,
Bea.
Don't worry,
I'll go tell mum.
Shortly afterwards,
Cherry came back in the bedroom with mum with the special shampoo.
Cherry looked appalled.
Mum said we have to have a bath with this special shampoo and this comb that she had in her hand.
She had a comb in her hand.
Oh,
And it looked all vicious.
It didn't look like a normal brush.
It looked like a really tight comb.
And she said,
Oh,
She's going to brush us.
She's going to brush us with that horrible looking comb.
It's,
It's,
It's,
It's,
Comb prongs are all tight together.
And it looks like it's going to be a weapon,
Like a torturous weapon.
Very shortly after that,
Heidi,
Cherry,
And Bea were all in the bathtub together,
Being washed with this smelly,
Horrible shampoo.
Mum made them sit in the shampoo for about five minutes.
They were squirming and moving around as if it was the worst thing ever.
And the shampoo smelled like tar.
It smelled like when you did the roads.
You know,
When they were putting pavements down or new,
New cement down or new tarmac down on the road and it smells and you can smell it and it smells so gross.
That's what the shampoo smelt like.
Cherry was just in her worst nightmare.
It was dripping off her nose and she kept saying,
OMG,
Wait till I see Milo.
I mean,
I do like Milo,
But he's in for it next time I see him.
I'll tell him,
Milo,
Do you want to come to my house?
And I'm going to make my mum wash Milo with this blooming,
Awful shampoo.
Heidi and Bea started laughing.
And then the torture got worse.
While they were in the shampoo still,
Mum combed each one of them,
Getting all the fleas off them one by one.
Oh,
And it seemed to go on forever and ever and ever.
Eventually,
Mum obviously was happy with thinking that she got all the fleas off them.
She rinsed the cats with warm water from the shower.
And in that moment,
Bea said,
We are really lucky.
I mean,
It's nice warm water and we're nice and clean now.
And we're not scratching like poor Milo would be all the time.
Cherry said,
OMG,
Bea,
Trust you to be grateful about something in this horrible situation.
But I'm glad you are because that's a really good point.
Actually,
Now I feel really sorry for Milo.
I feel sorry for Milo being on the street.
Maybe we could go find him and maybe we can ask mum if we can adopt Milo.
Heidi said,
I think mum's not gonna want any more cats.
But she might do.
She might fall in love with him,
You never know.
Heidi said,
Let's just get dry and let's just get comfortable and have a good night's sleep without scratching all day.
I'm exhausted.
Cherry said,
OMG,
Okay then.
The cats,
Once they were dry,
Got all comfortable on their cat bed.
And Cherry said,
OMG,
This cat bed's so comfortable.
I hope Milo's safe and warm somewhere tonight.
Heidi and Bea both agreed that it would be really nice if Milo had found a bed for the night.
They all laid thinking about him and how lucky they were that they had a nice warm roof over their head and a mum that loved them,
Even though it didn't feel like it half an hour ago.
And they fell asleep feeling really grateful for everything that they had,
Including their new friend,
Milo.
The end.
