How Shoebox Mousetail Got Her Name

Shoebox Mousetail was a squiggelly squaggelly quarkelly barkelly

Cat.

You might wonder what on earth is a squiggelly squaggelly quarkelly barkelly cat?  And HOW did it get such a funny name?  SHOEBOX MOUSETAIL????

Wellll, I'm going to tell you.  Of course, you know that usually it's only ducks that squiggle and squaggle all the way down to the water, and mostly it's frogs that go quarkelly barkelly when it's been raining a lot and they're having a party in the puddles.  Of course.

Pallllease, of course we know that.  But what's it got to do with a CAT?

CATS HATE WATER!

Well, for a start,  Shoebox Mousetail was a very very VERY amazing cat.

A bit like Batman, now that I come to think of it - you know, in that he was also amazing.  Shoebox had four paws though, a cute little nose, gorgeous black shiny soft fur, white whiskers, and a tail to die for.  All the other cats in the 'hood just thought that Shoebox had the most beautiful tail in the whole world.  And in fact even Batman sometimes wished he was a squiggelly squaggelly quarkelly barkelly cat, just so that he could have a tail like Shoebox's, because Shoe's tail was really very special.

Oops.  I let the secret out.  You see, Batman and Shoebox were the very best of friends.  They loved each other so much.  But before I tell you how they met, I'd better tell you what a squiggelly squaggelly quarkelly barkelly cat is.

Well.  A squiggelly squaggelly quarkelly barkelly cat is A cat With A Very Big Imagination.  You see, it can turn itself into OTHER ANIMALS.  So next time you see a duck going squiggelly squaggelly, it just might actually be Shoebox Mousetail.

Anyway, how on earth did Shoebox and Batman get to know each other – and by the way, what about where did Shoebox get her name from?  Okay, so Shoebox is a girl cat.  Yip.

And where was she born?  Well, nobody knows.  Not even Shoebox.  She might have a very big imagination, but that doesn't mean she can remember where she was born.  A cat can't know everything.  And in any case, Shoe doesn't really care.  All she cares about is that she was born.

Now I know for a fact that one day at the very beginning of her life, Shoe woke up to find herself in a box.  It wasn't a very big box, but it was quite nice inside.  Soft, warm, cozy.  And there was a saucer with the creamiest milk which never seemed to run out, no matter how much she licked it.

Yum.  Hmm.

Well, you've guessed it.  Shoebox was born in a shoebox.  How did she get there?  I don't know.  So for a few days, she was pretty relaxed.  She drank the milk, she slept, she dreamed.  And she dreamed some more. And of course, she dreamed about ducks and frogs, and horses, and birds, and lions and tigers and even dogs.

My word.  One morning Shoebox woke from a particularly wonderful dream about horses, and she said to herself "boy, I'd like to be one of them".  Still, she carried on being a cat, and for a few days more she mooched about her box.  But pretty soon she started to get a bit restless.  I mean, how long can a cat be happy stuck in a box?  Cat and box don't really go together so well, do they?

And it was all very well dreaming about being a horse galloping around like crazy, or being a squiggelly squaggelly duck, or a quarkelly barkelly frog playing in the pond, but Shoebox realised one day that she wanted more than just dreams.

Can you believe it, but at that exact moment Batman happened to be mooching along a path next to a river, thinking how hard he worked all the time, and wishing he could have more fun sometimes.  Actually, the truth is he was feeling a bit lonely.  He sure wasn't looking where he was going, and

Oops, he tripped over a box.

Yikes!

Now because he was Batman, he didn't fall – I mean, have you ever heard of Batman falling down?  But the box took a tumble, and Shoebox Mousetail got tumbled around inside.

“HEY!!”  Shoebox shouted out in alarm.

Batman bent down to peer at the box when he heard Shoebox shouting.  Now you have to remember that Shoe was a very tiny kitten still, so her shouting sounded like the squeak of a mouse to Batman.  He looked at the box, and thought is that a mouse inside the box?

He squatted down next to the box, and tried to look through the holes which were in the sides of the box.  All he could see was a long tail, which was a bit puzzling.

“Wow”, he said to himself, “that's a mouse with a very long tail.”  Hmm.  He wondered what he should do.  He gingerly knocked on the side of the box.  "Hallo"? he said.

Shoebox felt pretty cross, what with being tumbled so rudely, and having some huge creature try to stick its nose into her box, and then knocking so loudly she had to stick her front paws into her ears.

"HEY!!" She shouted out.  "What do you think you're doing?"  And she put her face close to one of the holes, and stuck her tongue out.  That would teach it.  Whoever it was.  Whatever it was.

Batman got a bit of a fright.  Not at the sound she made, but because he realized that it was a cat inside there.  A pretty cheeky one, mind you.  Tiny, also.

"Oh" he said, through the hole in the box.  "You're a cat."

"Of course I'm a cat," said Shoebox a bit crossly.  "What did you think I was?  A horse?"

Batman smiled at that one.  Not likely that he'd think she was a horse.  "Well," he said, "you sounded like a mouse, and when I looked in, all I could see was that long tail you've got, so I thought – "

"You thought my tail was a MOUSETAIL?"  Shoebox arched her back and hissed in outrage.  What an insult.  She'd never seen a mouse; she hadn't even dreamed about one, which is strange for a cat, but it didn't sound very dignified.  She hissed some more.

Batman scratched his head.  Things didn't seem to be going so well.  He sighed.  Just when he was actually wanting a friend.  He didn't really know what to say – after all, he hadn't meant to be insulting, but clearly he'd stuck his foot in it.

Meanwhile, Shoebox was thinking that maybe this creature, whatever he was, could open the box for her.  No harm in asking, she thought to herself.  "Hey", she called out to Batman "what's your name?"

"Batman" he replied, still trying to peer into the holes to see what this cat looked like.  "What's yours?"

Huh.  Shoebox didn't know her own name.  "I don't know", she said, "but do you think you could open this box for me?"

Well, of course Batman could open the box – I mean, is there anything he can't do?  And when he did, he gasped with surprise.  What a very beautiful kitten, with such a very beautiful tail.  But Batman burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at" said Shoebox crossly.

Batman laughed until his sides felt like they were going to split open.  "It's just that" – he gasped "that I thought you were some funny kind of mouse with a funny kind of mousetail living in a shoebox".

That was pretty funny, Shoebox agreed, and her whiskers twitched as she began to smile.  Then she started laughing with Batman, and before they knew it, they were rolling about on the grass, shouting "Shoebox Mousetail, Shoebox Mousetail"…..

And that's how Shoebox Mousetail got her name.