Once upon a time there was a cat called Sylvester. Sylvester was very cheeky sometimes, especially in this story. Sylvester had a sensible owner, which is just the opposite of him. Sylvester’s owner was called Chloe. Chloe had long, dark hair and clear blue eyes. Sylvester was black-and-white, with grass green eyes. One day, just before the fireworks went off and the tall ships came in, the streets were loaded with people busying around to get a good view of the sea and sky.
Sylvester and Chloe were playing hide-and-seek, which as you can probably imagine, it was very, very, very easy to find a place to hide that no-one could find you in a million years.
Sylvester was quite good at hiding. He decided to hide at the top of one of the colourful palm trees, but even he couldn’t see the seagull eyeing him curiously from overhead. He scrambled up the rough-barked palm tree and sneakily hid between two of the fresh green leaves.
Meanwhile, Chloe had just finished counting and had started looking for Sylvester. She certainly didn’t know where to look! She searched everywhere, well, everywhere except at the top of a palm tree!
After a while, Sylvester began to feel impatient. “Come on,” he thought, “even I could find a speck of dust up in this place! I didn’t mean to make it this hard!”
Suddenly, he spotted the seagull swooping down to him! He tried to cry out for help, but all that came out was a tiny “Mew!” despite his desperate efforts. Before you could say ‘Tiddlywinks’ the seagull had him up on the highest pole of a tall ship in a trice. Sylvester was trapped!
Chloe, at that time, had given up. ”OK, Sylvester, you win!” the frightened girl kept on shouting anxiously. She began to feel slightly worried after a while. What if Sylvester was lost? What would she do then?!?!?
Sylvester was beginning to feel scared. He could hear Chloe’s yelling, but was too worried to reply.
Suddenly, somebody in the crowd cried out, ‘Hey, what’s that black-and white thing on top of that tall ship over there? Is it a seagull?’
Chloe and all the other people turned to look. Sylvester smiled, grateful that they had finally noticed him.
This was Chloe’s only chance to find Sylvester. “No! THAT’s not a SEAGULL!!!” She yelled out in delight. “That’s my Sylvester!” Before anyone could stop her, she dived in the freezing ice-cold sea, in only her polka-dotted buttoned dress and leggings. Past the seals she went, crying tears of joy. Soggy-wet, she scrambled on board the tall ship which Sylvester was on. Ignoring the sailor’s warnings completely, she carelessly started to stagger herself up the riggings of the high mast. “Don’t look down,” she told herself, “Do anything but don’t look down!” She was nearly half-way now, on the third/fourth sail out of the 7 there were. “Nearly there!” She thought, “Not far to go now!”
Before you could blink, she was up at the top of the tall ship, cradling a black and white meowing ball of fur in her arms. “Now, to get down.” She stood deep in thought for a minute or two, one arm on the pole and the other rocking Sylvester gently.
She carefully let her arm go, watching the sails as she fell, hoping to grab on to one of the lowest banners so she could lower herself into the sea without making a big splash. She grabbed hold of the last banner with a tight grip so she wouldn’t slip and fall, and carefully lowered herself onto the ship’s deck. One of the sailors kindly picked up his phone and rang a lifeboat to take Sylvester and Chloe to shore, so Sylvester didn’t have to get wet.
Off to shore they went, the wind flapping in Chloe’s hair and Sylvester’s fur. Everybody cheered. “SYL-VE-STER!” they shouted, “CHLO-E!” the yelling was deafening. People even had made bright, colourful, home-made banners with their names on them, in order for a giant celebration
When they got to shore, Chloe thanked the man whom was at the wheel and said her farewells. Tired after all the exciting events that day, Sylvester wearily settled down on a comfy red-brick wall to watch the fireworks, while Chloe pointed out where they had been – on which exact tall ship – to a journalist with a telescope.
