JOSEPH, THE CAT OF MANY COLORS

by Liz Kollar

Joseph was a nosey little cat who got into all kinds of scary things; at least they were scary to him. He was playing quite happily in the cellar one day, sticking his little black nose and white whiskers into every hole and corner he could find.

First, he stuck his nose into the watercolor paints on the table where Grandmom kept her art supplies. His nose went into the lovely red paint she was using to paint a red rose and suddenly his nose was red instead of black. Then he snuck quietly over to the flowerpots Grandmom had filled with marigold seeds and fresh brown dirt from the garden to put out on her deck. He stuck his nose deep into the biggest pot. The earth smelled good but now his little wet nose was also a rich brown color.

He ran up the cellar steps and into the kitchen where Grandmom was busy icing a cake for Grandpop’s birthday and he put his little brown nose into the green icing on the kitchen table. Mmmm! That smelled good but after a quick lick he decided he didn’t like the taste because it didn’t taste like his favorite food which was tuna, but now his nose was also green from the icing and so were his little black paws. In fact, he now had red paint, brown dirt and green icing all over his nose, his paws and his whiskers.

Where could he go next, he wondered? What mischief could he get into? He raced into Grandmom’s bathroom. Nothing in there but the toilet bowl, the sink, and some towels, but there was blue water in the bowl, and of course, he had to check it out. Now, he had some of the blue dye that was supposed to clean the toilet bowl on the tips of his ears. It smelled awful and he tried to shake it off.

He sat for a moment to think about where to go next, and then remembered seeing something strange in the basement. He was so excited that he nearly tumbled down the steps to get there. He remembered seeing a funny looking plastic bag on Grandpop’s workbench where the hammer and nails and screwdrivers were kept. It would be a big jump to get to the top of the workbench but he closed his eyes and jumped higher than he had ever jumped before, landing right in the middle of the plastic bag where Grandpop had a big tube of yellow glue. He had been fixing the leg of chair that had been broken and the tube was still open. Oh, my! What a mess!

Joseph’s nose twitched and twitched. He didn’t like the smell of the glue at all but he was so nosey that he had to stick his head all the way inside the bag to get a closer look. Now his nose was all yellow and sticky and he was stuck to the plastic bag. He yowled and yowled; his eyes got big and yellow, even more yellow than the glue on his nosey little nose, and he jumped down to the floor and tried to run away. But guess what? The plastic bag and the glue came with him. They were stuck together just like…you guessed it…glue.

Joseph ran in circles around the basement floor, the plastic bag following him everywhere making loud noises. My, he was frightened! He saw Grandmom’s wash basket that he had overturned and he crawled inside to hide, but the plastic bag was still stuck to his ears and the yellow glue was now all over his furry tail.

Grandmom heard all the noise and came thumping down the steps. Thump! Thump! Thump! "Joseph, where are you," she called. But Joseph didn’t answer although his little heart was also thumping away. Then Grandmom saw her wash basket and the frightened little cat trying to hide from her. "My! My! What did you do now?" she asked and bent down to pick him up.

He had streaks of yellow glue on his tail, his ears were blue, his nose was red and his whiskers were brown while his paws were still covered with green icing. Just like Joseph in the Bible, Joseph, the cat, had a coat of many colors. He looked so funny that Grandmom laughed and laughed. She held him tight to give him a big hug and kiss and now she was full of colors, too. Her nose was red from the paint, her chin was blue from the toilet bowl dye, her cheeks were green from the icing, and her hands were brown from the dirt on his whiskers. As for his yellow tail, Grandmom wouldn’t touch it. She called Grandpop to clean it up and gave him a scolding for leaving the tube of yellow glue open on his workbench.

"Oh, Joseph," laughed Grandmom. "You are such a nosey little cat."

Joseph licked some of the green icing off his paws. "Meow! Meow! Meow!" he said, and because he was tired from all the work he’d done, he curled up in Grandmom’s arms, closed his big yellow eyes, and fell fast asleep.

©Liz Kollar 2004