Story 52: Reza Shadey, Manager
One sunny morning, Mrs Higgins tied her scarf and patted Reza Shadey's magnificent fluffy head.
"Be good, my little emperor", she cooed. "Today, you'll have to manage without me!"
Click-clack! went the front door as she left to visit her sister.
Reza Shadey blinked his big green eyes.
"Manage?" he pondered, puffing out his chest like a furry, striped balloon.
"That must mean I'm the BOSS now!" he declared. "The Grand High Manager of Absolutely Everything!"
His tail swished with absolute delight. This was his moment. His whiskers tingled with the thrill of power.
With a regal leap onto the garden wall, Reza summoned his friends.
"Attention, minions! I mean... valued colleagues!" he yowled, his voice booming (well, for a cat).
"Penelope! Ginger Tom! Tiger! Report for duty immediately!"
He held up a soggy leaf he'd found near the pond — his brand-new managerial clipboard.
"All hail my organisational genius", he thought proudly, giving the leaf a very important nod.
Reza cleared his throat importantly, a tiny cough escaping.
"As your new manager, I've devised the purr-fect schedule!"
He tapped his leaf-clipboard with a paw.
"Penelope, you're in charge of napping spot organisation. Fluff all cushions by ten o'clock, and make sure they're bouncy!"
"Ginger Tom, inspect the garden for stray leaves — I want a full report, even on the sneaky ones!"
"Tiger, arrange sardine tastings every half-hour. Sharp! And no nibbling!"
Penelope tilted her head, a small wrinkle appearing between her ears.
"But Rezzi, darling, isn't managing about helping, not just bossing?"
"Pish-posh!" scoffed Reza, waving a paw dismissively. "I'm the expert! Now hop to it, you fluffy lot!"
Soon, utter chaos reigned.
Reza zoomed everywhere, giving new, sillier orders every minute.
"Stop napping, Penelope! Fluff clockwise, then anti-clockwise, then upside down!" he yowled.
Then he turned to Ginger Tom.
"Count those leaves again! I think you missed one under the rose bush... and possibly an invisible one too!"
Poor Tiger got dizzy from changing sardine arrangements.
"Line them up by size! No, by fishiness! No, by how wiggly they are!"
Ginger Tom collapsed under the hydrangea, panting like a puppy.
"I've counted 327 leaves", he groaned. "My paws ache, and I haven't napped once! This is harder than chasing my own tail!"
Penelope's usually perfect fur was thoroughly mussed from frantic cushion-fluffing.
"Rezzi, this isn't managing — it's absolute madness!"
The final straw came when Tiger, wobbling from too much sorting, tripped over his own paws.
SPLASH!
Glug glug glug!
The sardines flew straight into the bird bath, bobbing like tiny, smelly submarines.
"DISASTER! Cat-astrophe!" wailed Reza, his ears drooping.
"My management masterpiece is utterly ruined!"
The cats gathered for an emergency meeting under the apple tree.
"Rezzi", began Penelope gently, "real managers listen. They don't just shout orders."
Ginger Tom nodded wisely. "And they let others do what they're good at. I'm excellent at napping inspections... especially the deep ones."
Tiger gave a hopeful bounce. "And I'm very good at taste-testing... if I'm allowed to actually eat them."
Reza Shadey looked at his soggy leaf-clipboard.
Then he looked at his tired, slightly fishy-smelling friends.
For a flicker of a moment, his ears drooped just a little further.
Perhaps...
Just perhaps...
"Ahem!"
Reza straightened at once, puffing out his chest.
"Excellent!" he announced smoothly. "You have all successfully completed my very advanced management test!"
The other cats blinked.
"I created a challenging situation", Reza continued grandly, tapping his leaf, "so that you could discover your own best ways of working."
He nodded, very pleased with himself.
"New plan!"
"Penelope, organise naps your absolutely brilliant way."
"Ginger Tom, inspect napping quality with utmost dedication."
"Tiger, taste-test... enthusiastically. Every last one."
Miraculously, purr-fect peace returned.
Penelope arranged cushions beautifully, like soft, fluffy clouds.
Ginger Tom "inspected" naps by joining them (and snoring quite impressively).
Tiger taste-tested with happy, crunchy enthusiasm.
And Reza?
Reza supervised from the warmest sunbeam, purring contentedly.
When Mrs Higgins returned, she found a tidy garden and a collection of very satisfied, very sleepy cats.
"Well managed, Reza!" she smiled, stroking his head.
"Naturally", purred Reza, closing his eyes.
Then, just for a moment, one eye peeked open.
"Tomorrow", he murmured thoughtfully, "perhaps... Supreme Director of Dreamy Catnaps."
His managerial leaf, now quite forgotten, drifted gently in the flowerbed.
Night night. Sleep tight.