Fiona stood by the table, stroking a cat with each hand. Or was it
two girls? It was pretty hard to tell, to be honest, because both
seemed to occupy the same space: cat and girl. With one glance you
saw two cats, each stretching upwards to meet the affectionate hand.
Blink, and the view changed to two girls, Fiona stroking the tops of
their heads.
My wife was mumbling meaningless platitudes to the cats as stroked
them. “There, there,” she was saying, “There's nothing to
worry about here.” But her eyes....her eyes were very firmly
directed at Strauss. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she
looked very, very serious.
Strauss, on the other hand, just stood there. They'd flinched,
recoiled even, when the cat hissed at them, but now they just stood
still.
“If you have finished tending to your...pets,” the voice of Water
splashed, “Maybe you would like to finish addressing this council?”
